The Circle Restored
by Higanbana
Summary: Sorry for long wait. An evil virus attacked my computer. Continuation after CoMO. They're going back to Summersea but there are some problems.
1. Prologue

Hi! This is my first fanfic so sorry if it sucks. I'll try to make it revolve around everyone, but it may seem to be more about Tris cuz she's the coolest J . But it will have stuff on Sandry, Briar, and Daja.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Circle of Magic or the characters. If I did, I would be rich; but I'm completely broke. Actually, I think I have $3...

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At The Lemon Tree Inn on the southern border of Janaal:

Tris sat up gasping. She had been having THAT dream again. She thought that she had gotten over those nightmares years ago when she had finally found happiness at Discipline. Recently, they had come back and seemed to be even worse that they used to. Tris only had nightmares about one thing, being alone and abandoned. She could not remember a time when she did not have the nightmares, but for the past few years, she could not remember having the nightmare.

'Why do I even think of it as a nightmare?' Tris asked herself bitterly. 'I'm better off without them. I have a family that loves me now…I'm happy. They only made me miserable, they never cared about me.' She felt wetness trickle down her cheek. 'Why am I crying?' she demanded. 'They abandoned me.' The tears kept coming. 'Stupid! Why am I feeling sorry for myself?"

She flung the covers off and walked over to the window to get fresh air. Tris sat down in the windowseat and stared out at the city forlornly. She watched the shadows slowly glide down the street and saw some street rats skittering around in the street. She rested her head on her knees and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

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At the Duke's Citadel in Summersea, Emelan:

Baron Erdogun looked at the young woman embroidering at the window. She looked very dainty and gentle in the elegant sunroom, but her quick, violent jabs with her needle ruined the quaint picture.

"Jerk--how dare he--insult him--That…"she muttered with each jab. She continued with a string of curses in assorted languages, making the Baron wonder who she had been spending her time with.

"Lady Sandry," he called out. She jerked her head up and saw him standing in the doorway. "If your uncle could have heard you--" He was cut off by a glare that made him step back a few steps. Sandry turned back to her embroidery. Erdogun decided to give her time to cool off. He went to warn the servants and Pasco to stay away from her ladyship until later in the evening.

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Off the coast of the Stepping Stone Islands in the Pebbled Sea:

Daja bounced in the ship happily. She loved being on the sea. Some crew members looked at the Trader warily as some of the metal fitting on the ship seemed to wiggle and squeak. "Daja, stop," Frostpine commanded. "I'm already sick enough as it is without having to see you jumping all over the place."

"But we're going home," she protested. "I can't help it." Frostpine managed to smile before he bent over the railing as he was struck by another bout of nausea.

"Storm coming," a sailor said quietly. Daja turned to look to where the sailor faced. The gray storm cloud rumbled warningly and promised heavy rain for days. We'll have to anchor into a harbor in Hajra for a few days. Horror crept over Daja's face.

'No,' she screamed inwardly. 'A few more days and I would have been home. This will make the trip take twice as long.' A comforting hand rubbed her shoulder. Frostpine looked down at her with understanding. Daja sighed heavily. 'He wants to be home as much as me,' she realized, 'I better not complain. I know he feels bad enough as it is'

"Too bad, huh?" she said cheerily, pasting a big smile across her face. He could tell that the smile was fake, but he just smiled in return as the ship headed east.

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In Lingrei in Yanjing:

Briar woke up to see a black ball of fur on his chest. Evvy was studying her rocks in the mess hall while Rosethorn made breakfast when "Stupid cat! Get offa me!"

Evvy smiled inwardly, 'So it begins.' Listening to the sounds upstairs, she thought that _Pahan_ Briar threw a wash basin and maybe a book. "Probably tripped over his clothes on the floor too,' she thought hearing a thud. Briar limped into the kitchen a few minutes later.

"What's the matter boy," Rosethorn asked. "You not have broken anything."

"Or hurt Quartz," Evvy interjected.

"I think Briar got hurt more than the cat did," Rosethorn said with an evil smirk. Briar glared at the pair and stomped outside. 

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~*~

Off the coast of Choruon Island in The Pebbled Sea:

"Storm to the south," the burly seaman said, lowering his spyglass.

"How far south?" asked the young captain of the _Sea Mist_.

"I'd say, 'bout 4 hours. Seems bad. There's lighnin' and looks like buckets of rain pourin'. Ain't seen nothing that bad since 6 years ago. "

"It's that bad?" Derrick demanded frantically. He remembered that storm. That was the day when--

"Cap'n, shouldn't we be headed for safe harbor?"

"Ah yes, of course. I recall there being a harbor around here, Summersea I believe."

"Aye sir," the cabin boy interrupted, "prob'ly safest harbor hereabouts. Specially with the weather witch 'n her group. They could probably stop a hurricane."

"Weather witch?" the lookout asked.

"The four mages," the boy explained. Trained in Winding Circle Temple. I lived in Summersea till the plague broke out 2 years ago. Surely you've heard of the four in Capchen by now."

Derrick thought for a moment. "I might have," he said slowly, "I think it was something about them saving Emelan or something."

"Yeah they've saved it," the boy said with a dry chuckle, "lotsa times. First, they stopped a fleet of pirates, just them four. Well actually, the other mages at the Temple helped destroy the fleet, but without the four, they wouldn't have been able to destroy the fleet-the biggest fleet ever they say. The weather witch, they said she made a tornado that reached the sky and struck the dogs with lightning. The second time, they stopped a forest fire that was destroying a town up north. Big fire I gather, seeing's how it killed a mage specially trained to stop them. Then, they cured the plague."

Derrick looked at the boy with some disbelief in his eyes, "If they do all you say, they must be gods. At Lightsbridge where I trained, the strongest master wouldn't have been able to do what you say. Especially your weather witch. People with weather magic are usually strong, but with little control. She'd had to have trained for decades to be able to do that."

"Nay sir, they be about 15 or so now. They was 11 or thereabouts when they stopped the fleet."

"Were coming up onto the harbor," the steersman said.

"Okay. Start lowering the sails and prepare to dock"

The men fled to their places saying "Aye, aye, Captain Chandler."

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So how was it? Please Read n' Review. I'm going to try to do a chapter for each but I'm not doing them in a specific order. I'll just do them when inspiration strikes. Anyways, I'll try to get at least two chapters per month. Anyways, the next chapter's abut Briar I think cuz I have a good idea for him.

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*Star Lily*


	2. The Serum and Herastor

Wai!!! Thanks for the reviews everyone. I got way more than I ever expected! To answer questions:

This will not be a Tris/Briar. In fact, this will not be an anyone/Briar. I don't like pairing Briar with his foster sisters because I don't think that any of them should be in love with each other. Sorry to those of you who hoped for a Briar/Someone romance.

I am going to continue the story right after _Shatterglass_ and if I change anything it is unintentional.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, not even my clothes. They are my sister's and I stole them. I only own the plot, so please do not steal it. If you want to use my plot, please e-mail and ask.

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In Lingrei in Yanjing:

After exiting the Water Temple guesthouse, Briar decided to explore the city. They had only arrived in Lingrei 2 days before, and Briar, Rosethorn, and Evvy had been busy helping the healers at the Water Temple. He had not had time to look around the city yet, so he wanted to look around the local marketplace. Briar usually explored the marketplaces at the cities that he visited to see the things unique to the city.

He walked down Water Street and eventually found himself at the local marketplace. He wandered around looking at the shops and turned onto Mage's Lane where he inspected the magical commodities. He stopped at a hedge witch's to look at her powders and potions. Briar always looked at other people's medicines to try to find ways to improve his. The shop shone with small beads of magic but he could see a large amount emanating from a bottle on a shelf above the counter.

"What's in that bottle?" he asked the woman abruptly. "The tall green one."

She looked shocked when he inquired about it and bent down to peer at him. "He met her sharp gaze and waited coolly for her answer. "It is very strong, boy," she said. "Only certified mages may buy it and only if they can prove that they have a great deal of power. It is not for _children_." She said the last word with awful emphasis.

"I don't want to buy it. I just want to know what's in it," Briar replied. He considered telling her that he was a certified mage but decided not to. No need to complicate things.

"_Pahan_ Briar?" Evvy entered the shop. Briar and the woman swung around to see Evvy standing in the doorway of the shop. "What are you doing?" Evvy was shoved aside as a tall man entered the shop.

"Outta the way, wench." he said nonchalantly as he approached the woman, who was plainly frightened. "Give me the potion," he commanded. The woman reached for the green bottle with a shaking hand. "Hurry up!" he barked.

"Stop!!" a boy yelled. He charged into the shop and tackled the man. The man drew a knife and slashed at the boy. The boy fell to the ground, blood streaming from the wound in his side. The man went in for the kill only to stagger and sink to the ground as the flagstone floor trembled. Reeds and vines shot out of various containers, the dried plants no longer dead and brittle. The man struggled as his legs were trapped in a gap created by the flagstones and his arms were bound to his body.

Briar walked toward the man, smiling almost kindly. 'Yikes, that smile scares me more than Rosethorn,' Evvy thought as she helped the boy up.

"What do you want the potion for?" Briar asked the man lazily. The man's scowl disappeared when a vine brandished his own knife in front of his face.

"He wants it because it is rare and powerful," the boy interrupted. The bottle had fallen off of the shelf during Evvy's earthquake and now lay next to a potted plant by the counter. The hedge witch gaped as the plant sprouted a leafy twig and took the bottle to Briar. The boy looked at the bottle and frowned. It was made of lead, which shielded magic and he could see the runes for protection and concealment etched around the rim. The magic was very powerful, so Briar knew that something strange was up.

"In there," a hoarse voice croaked. Briar looked up as guards charged into the shop followed by a _Djai_ or enforcer. "No one move," he commanded. "Are you all right Ryku?" he asked the boy.

"Yes sir, _Djai_ Malip. I would've been a goner if these two hadn't saved me." he said, indicating Evvy and Briar.

"The man looked closely at Briar. "Who are you?"

"I'm Briar Moss. And this is Evvy"

"The Mage Council of Yanjing owes both you and _Scijia _Evvy a great debt, _Scijio_ Briar," the man said. Briar frowned.

"You know we have magic?" Evvy asked.

"You must have some magic to have been able to catch Friezra," he said indicating the man trapped by the rocks and plants. "He is a very strong mage but he uses his magic to steal rare magical items. Also you are touching that bottle, _Scijio_ Briar. Only people with very strong magic may hold that bottle and not be rejected by the magic contained within."

"Rejected by the magic within?" Briar asked in puzzlement. "What do you mean rejected?"

The boy with Evvy spoke up this time, "That bottle contains a rare serum that enhances magic and can cure any disease. It is the only thing that we know of that can cure the Herastor," he said, naming a disease that broke out sporadically and violently throughout the world. Few people lived when they contracted the disease and even fewer recovered their health and mentality. People were known to go mad, become paralyzed, or have a permanent handicap from the Herastor. "It is the only known bottle left in existence and the formula of the serum was lost long ago. I work at the mage laboratory where we were trying to learn the formula. However, the first day, we could not work with it because no one could touch the bottle without being burned or shocked by it. We put it in the keeping box to wait for a strong mage who would arrive the next day."

Malip took over. "However, that night the serum was stolen along with a sample of Herastor. We learned that Friezra was planning to refine the disease and use it to kill the mages in the Mage Council and to kill the king of Yanjing. With no one strong enough to fight him, he would then take over the country."

"But why did she have it?" Briar asked indicating the hedge witch.

"She is one of my enforcers. It was her job to be his partner and steal the serum and Herastor back. She has been on the run for the past few months and unable to contact us."

"So what are you going to do now?" Evvy asked.

"Well, we are going to return the disease and serum to the mage laboratory. Then we'll bind Friezra's magic and put him into a high security prison." The _Djai _went over to the struggling man and knocked him out with a spell. He reached down with his magic restrainers and snapped them on the man. "Uh, _Scijio, Scijia_, could you please release him so that I can take him to the Council?"

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At the Water Temple Guest House:

"Someone get the door," Rosethorn yelled. "I'm busy right now." Evvy scrambled to open the door before Rosethorn could threaten to kill whoever was sitting around while someone knocked at the door. She opened the door and saw _Djai_ Malip and the boy.

"Hello, we came to see how you and _Scijio _Briar are."

"Please come in." Evvy led them into the main room and pushed Seashell and Jade off of the couch to make room for the two males. The cats yowled in indignation as they stalked off to find a place where they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Evvy, who is it?" Briar asked coming in with Rosethorn. "Oh, hello again. Rosethorn, these are the ones that I told you about." He turned to the men, "This is my teacher Rosethorn. You already met Evvy."

"Greetings, _Djai_," Rosethorn said. She looked at the young man next to Malip. He had black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. "And what might your name be?"

"My name is Ryku Dingzai."

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Hehehe. Cliffhanger. You'll have to wait until I decide to write another chapter for Briar and Evvy. For those of you who do not understand, Dingzai is Evvy's last name. I think the next chapter will be Sandry. For anyone who thinks that she was out of character, you'll see why she's so angry in the next chapter. I think that her anger is normal for what happened. I already have an idea for Tris, but I need to figure something out for Daja. Oh well, I'll think of something. And if this chapter is not that good, you can flame if you want. Next chapter should come out within two weeks.

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*Star Lily*


	3. Sandry's Dilemma

Part 3, Yaaay!! Thanks for the reviews everyone. I guess that my story isn't as bad as I thought. Anyways, this part is about Sandry.

Disclaimer: Does anyone even read these? Oh, well, if anyone does, I do not own the Circle of Magic or its characters.

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In the Duke's Citadel in Summersea in Emelan:

After Erdogun withdrew from the room, Sandry went back to jabbing with her needle. However, after she pricked herself for the fourth time, she gave up. She couldn't embroider or do anything if she was upset.

'How dare he insult Uncle, how dare he!' she thought. 'He's lucky that Uncle still cares about him. Otherwise he would be suffocating in a cocoon right now!' She could still hear his scornful voice insulting her and the Duke. She would not have cared if he had only insulted her. She was used to being badmouthed and scorned by nobles who thought that she behaved improperly and by mages who hated or envied her. However, he had insulted her uncle as well as her, and that, in her eyes, was unforgivable.

'Ooh, now I can't concentrate on anything! Why did he have to come?' Sandry closed her eyes as she thought about what had occurred that morning.

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"How is my grandniece?" Duke Vedris asked Baron Erdogun.

"She was badmouthing him in the sitting room last I checked. It would not surprise me if she was planning an elaborate revenge right now." The Duke chuckled dryly.

"Lady Sandrilene is rather protective of me. Nevertheless, I must say that her anger is justified, as is Lord Frantsen's. After all, my son was anticipating inheriting my realm after I died."

"But your Grace," Erdogun protested, "we all know that he would have made a horrible ruler."

"I know, you know, Sandrilene knows, and Frantsen himself probably knows. But how would you feel if you found out that your own father had passed over you and chosen a 16 year old girl instead of you?"

"I probably would be angry," the baron admitted, "but that does not justify insulting one's father and cousin."

A knock sounded at the door and Sandry stuck her head in. "Uncle, I'm going to Winding Circle to visit Lark. Could you tell Pasco that our lesson today is cancelled?"

"Of course, my dear. Have a good time. Give Dedicate Lark my regards."

"Okay. I'll probably be back around dinnertime. Bye." Sandry left the room after giving her uncle a quick peck on the cheek.

"She tried valiantly to hide her anger from you," Erdogun remarked.

"Yes, she is a wonderful young lady. I hope that Dedicate Lark can help her to calm down."'

"Your Grace?"

"I take it that you did not see the tapestries and rugs wiggling. Apparently her anger is making her lose her grip on her magic."

Erdogun thought for a moment. Sandry was extremely powerful, as she had already demonstrated many times in the past few years. "I suppose that we should be thanking the gods that she is not her friend Tris. I have the oddest feeling that if she had been her foster-sister, this citadel might not be standing right now," the baron said.

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Sandry walked to the stables after bidding her uncle and Erdogun goodbye. Kwaben and Oama were waiting for her at the gate and followed her as she left through the gate. The company rode in silence for a time. When they were in the outskirts of the city, Sandry broke the silence. "I suppose you know what happened this morning?" she inquired.

"Yes, milady," Oama replied. It would have been impossible not to hear the Duke's son shouting in the meeting room and as he left the Citadel.

"Do you know what Lord Frantsen is like?" Sandry asked. "All that I know is that he married Nissa and lives with her in his palace up north."

" Do you know what Lady Nissa is like?" Oama asked.

"Yes, I happen to know her from when I visited my cousins in Namorn." Sandry had taken an immediate dislike to the nosy gossipy woman. Her loud, argumentive voice had grated on Sandry ears and frayed her control on her magic. "I had to restrain myself from doing her bodily harm as she insulted half the court and talked about her _friends_ behind their backs. She insulted my cousins and while I do not care for them myself, she acts all sweet and gooey with them and later insults them in private."

"From the few times that I have seen her, she seems to think that she deserves more than her lot in life," Kwaben said, joining the conversation.

"That describes her exactly, Sandry said. "She is very wealthy and living well, but she acted like she was better than everyone and as such deserved more."

"Well Lord Frantsen is like that," Oama said, answering Sandry's earlier question. He is also vindictive and likes to hold grudges."

"Oh dear, I do hope her doesn't try to hurt Uncle," Sandry said worriedly.

"He wouldn't hurt his father milady. You should worry about yourself; he will most likely plot against you."

"He can try to hurt me, but he will not succeed."

"He does not harm someone directly," Oama said shaking her head. "He hurts them in spirit, through their friends and family or by making their life miserable with gossip and such."

Sandry's eyes blazed when Oama mentioned Frantsen hurting someone's friends. "He had better not harm my friends."

'Gods help him if he does,' Kwaben thought as he looked at Sandry. Oama had drawn back from Sandry's glare. Sandry closed her eyes and counted to ten silently. She opened her eyes.

"Let's hurry," she said kicking her horse into a gallop. 'I desperately need to talk to Lark,' she thought. Oama and Kwaben followed their mistress as she set out to the one place where she could be comforted and soothed.

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Lark looked up as she heard the ring of horseshoes on the gravel path. She looked out to see Sandry dismounting and handing the reigns to her escort.

"Go wait for me at the Hub. I'll go there when I'm ready," Sandry ordered. She turned to see Lark opening the door of Discipline with a smile.

"Welcome back Sandry," Lark said warmly.

Sandry gave Lark a hug. "I missed you Lark. There isn't anyone to talk with in Summersea. I do have uncle and Yazmin and everyone, but no one quite understands me." Lark nodded in understanding. "Anyways, I badly need someone to talk with and give me advice." Lark lead Sandry to her workroom. She sat at her loom while Sandry sat at the stool next to the worktable. "Where's Comas?" Sandry asked.

"He's at the Hub learning lessons. He won't be back until after dinner, so we have time for a good heart-to-heart. We haven't had one of those in a good while.

"Yes," Sandry agreed.

After chatting pleasantly about friends and acquaintances, Lark asked Sandry, "So what is wrong? I can feel everything in my workshop reacting to your anger and confusion." Sandry muttered an apology, then sighed.

"You know how my uncle was talking about how Lord Frantsen would not be a ruler to follow him?" Lark nodded. "Well, this morning Uncle summoned Lord Frantsen and told him that he was not going to inherit the throne. Lord Frantsen would get his share of uncle's fortune with slightly more to compensate for the loss of position. I suspected that Lord Frantsen would be passed over from the stories that I've heard of him. But I thought that Lord Rimst would inherit the throne because he doesn't seem to be too bad of a character."

"And it isn't Lord Rimst?"

"No; and it isn't Lord Hirim either."

"But there is no one else except…" Lark trailed of as she looked at Sandry.

"Yep, Uncle wants me to become the Duchess after he dies."

"And you don't want to?"

"I neither do nor don't. I would if there was no one better, but I have not seen my other two cousins in quite awhile."

"So your indecision is why you came to see me?"

"Yes, that and I am very mad at Lord Frantsen."

"Why?"

"Because he insulted Uncle," Sandry burst out. "He called him a 'senile old fool' who was not in his right mind. He said all sorts of bad things about Uncle and called him bad names. He was so rude and obnoxious."

"Did he insult you?" Sandry nodded. "Yet you are not angry about that?'

"He insulted his own father for Mila's sake!! I'm fine with his insulting me. I am the 'slip-of-a-girl' who has taken his power and riches from him. But Uncle is his father. Uncle raised him and cared for him; he did not have the least bit of gratitude."

"Sandry, there are different types of people in this world. Some are nice and gentle and caring like you and me, but some only think about the unfairness of life. Lord Frantsen is not thinking about what he has. He is thinking about what he does not and cannot have."

"But he has so much. And he was brought up well and everything. Why is he like that?"

"That is human nature, Sandry. People are the way that they are for many reasons or no reasons at all. It could have something to do with his life, such as friends or acquaintances as a child, or it could just be the way that he was born. If he looked at the world and decided to be a certain way, to act a certain way, well, that's just life."

"But what do I do? Oama and Kwaben say that he likes to get revenge indirectly through friends and family. What if he tries to hurt you or Pasco or someone I care about?"

"I cannot tell you what to do Sandry. This is your decision to make. It is too important in your life. What you do now could shape your life and affect the many people."

"But Lark, I need help. I don't know what to do, how to act."

"I am not going to tell you how to deal with this. I will give you some advice. Think about the whys, why is the situation like that, and your options. Think of every single option, no matter how impossible, and then think of the consequences of your actions. Not just the consequences on yourself, but also on others."

"Like Uncle and you?"

"Not just those you care for."

"Do you mean like on the people of Emelan."

"The people affected by your actions; the neutral people. And…"

"And…my enemies? Like Frantsen? But why?"

"He will do things in return for what you do. For every action, there are many consequences."

"I think I see. So if I do something bad to him, he would probably do something bad too right?" Lark smiled at her. "I'm not any less confused, but somehow I am strangely content, satisfied."

"You just needed a direction to go in."

"Maybe. Oh well, enough about me. What about you Lark?" Lark related how life around the Temple had been and Sandry listened and they talked contently for the rest of the visit

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~*~

"I'm home Uncle," Sandry called out.

"Hello my dear. Did you have a good visit?" Vedris inquired.

"Wonderful. I feel so much better, although I'm still a little confused. I ate supper at the Temple, so I think I'll retire early. Goodnight. Don't stay up too long either," Sandry said as she headed up the stairs. "Don't think that you can get away with staying up just because I won't be pestering you."

Baron Erdogun had entered in time to catch the end of the conversation. "Don't worry Lady Sandrilene. I'll see to it that he does not misbehave."

"Good," she said with conviction. "See you in the morning."

"Dedicate Lark must be a god. This morning she was so mad, she could have killed Frantsen with her glare. Now, she is cheerful enough to nag and joke."

"Dedicate Lark is not a god; she is much better. She is a teacher and mentor, and she will teach Sandrilene to be compassionate and wonderful."

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Upstairs, Sandry lay on her bed and thought about the situation. She pulled out the thread circle and looked at it for inspiration. 'What would Tris, Daja, and Briar do? What would they say?' She knew them well enough to know what they would do, but what about herself? 'It is very strange,' she thought wryly. 'I know what they would do, but I don't know what I would do. It's like I know them but not myself.' _What would they expect you to do?_ a voice asked. _You know them, so they know you. So what would they expect you to do. _'Well, they would expect me to do things to help everyone, I think. Because I usually try to help. But they might also think about how much I love Uncle, and they might think that I would try to hurt him.' _So if those are your choices then you must choose. That is what the Sandry that they know and love would do. Now you must choose._ 'Yes, I will choose, and I am going to make sure that I make the best choice. And once I do, I only need to think of what to do. Tired but satisfied, Sandry drifted off into sleep.

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Wow, I can't believe I just wrote this. It's _way_ too deep for me, so how did I write this?!? It's also longer than my other chapters. Maybe it's just cuz I'm getting more into the story. Oh well, just goes to show what can happen when you get carried away with a story. I'm writing these a lot faster than I anticipated. That is good until I run out of ideas of what to write. Anyway, I'm sure we all know the choice Sandry will make. If you don't well… Since this chapter is so-I don't know-philosophical I guess, there are probably going to be many opinions on Lark and Sandry's conversation. You can flame if you want because I know not everyone's going to agree. I think next chapter will be Tris because I still need to think of an idea for Daja. I'm trying to give each group their own problem, but it's hard to think of one for Daja. See ya next chapter.

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*Star Lily*


	4. The Lady of Fate

Wow, I'm writing these really fast. Don't expect me to keep up the pace cuz for the rest of March I have about three tests a week and a bunch of projects. Hope you like the story so far. Oh, to explain, Rimst and Hirim are the Duke's other 2 sons (I made them up). Chapter 4, enjoy.

Disclaimer: Okay, Tamora Pierce owns everything, not me; so don't sue me.

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In the Lemon Tree Inn on the southern border of Janaal:

"Tris, wake up…Tris!" Kethlun Warder shook his young teacher's shoulder in an attempt to wake her up.

"Huh…Wha…Morning already?" Tris uncurled from her position on the window seat and stood up unsteadily. Her legs hurt from being bent the whole night, and her fingers were sore from griping her legs to her chest. She sent Kethlun downstairs and went to change her clothes and wash her face. Looking in the mirror, she saw bags under her eyes and the imprint of the corner of the window seat on her cheek.

When she arrived downstairs in the dining room, she saw Kethlun sitting at a table in the corner. She walked over and sat down with him, yawning as she sank onto the bench.

"You look like you didn't sleep a wink last night," he commented.

"Be quiet," she snapped. "You don't look all that rested either." She began to undo one of her tide braids, but thought better of it when she remembered how long it had been since she last used up all of the magic in her braids. 'Better let my body recover first,' she thought. 'I don't want to slow us down.' "Where are Chime and Little Bear?" she asked.

The owner kicked Bear out when the guests started to complain about him. They were uncomfortable with a dog over five feet tall staring at them as they ate their breakfast. Glaki's playing with him in the back"

"And Chime?"

"She tried to sample other guests' breakfasts so Niko took her with him. He said he was going to walk around the village for a while. He said he'd be back around midmorning. You have a couple of hours before he comes back. Anyway, we're going to leave after lunch, so make sure you have everything ready.

"Yeah, yeah. What are you going to do after you're done eating?" Tris asked.

"I'll play with Glaki for awhile. Why, are you planning to go somewhere?"

"Maybe. I don't know what else to do." After finishing her breakfast, Tris went back to her and Glaki's room and began to pack everything up. Tris carried little when she traveled, but Glaki had toys and Tris had books for teaching Glaki. Most of their possessions had been sent to Winding Circle already. After packing, Tris went back downstairs.

"--say it's a killer."

"Are you sure Elun? It's hard to believe that a storm that fierce is going to hit us."

"It's not going to hit us directly. It'll hit the coast first, then travel inland towards us. By the time it reaches us, it'll pretty much have spent itself but they say that ports in Sotat are already overflowing with ships seeking harbor."

"Excuse me sir," Tris interrupted the conversation of the two men, "but did you say that the storm was in Sotat?"

"In southern Sotat, missy. Why, are you heading north?"

"Yes, we were planning to sail on a ship from southern Sotat. We we're heading north today."

"You're gonna have a hard time. They said the roads are completely washed out. Even if you make it there, the boats won't be able to leave for a good while."

Tris thanked them and left. Wandering down the street, she saw children running underfoot and people bustling up and down the street. Most, however, were heading up the street and people were whispering excitedly to one another.

'I wonder what's going on,' Tris thought. She joined the flow of the crowd and soon saw a large building up ahead. 'Everyone seems to be heading there. I wonder why,' she thought curiously. The mass of people entered through the doors and Tris saw each hand the guard a ticket.

Seeing a group of youths her age at the side of the door, she walked towards them. "Hi, can you tell me what's going on?"

"It's the annual fair," one explained. They got all kinds of events and stuff and people sell stuff that they made or collect. But it costs a silver a ticket, and that only lets you see the acts. If you want to explore the whole fair, it's two silvers."

"Oh, thank you," Tris said. Curious to see what the fair was like, she bought a ticket for two silvers and went in. Inside, the crowds were large and it was extremely noisy. 'I better take care not to get lost,' Tris thought. Looking at the stalls, she could see numbers inked in a corner near the top. Wandering around, she took care to note how the numbers were arranged so that she would be able to find her way back to stall 354.

She looked at a few of the magic stalls, but saw little to interest her. The books that Tris looked at were dull and boring. Seeing a queue of people outside one of the stalls, Tris tried to find out what was so interesting in the stall. A sign outside the stall proclaimed: The Lady of Fate. Have your fortune told! Completely accurate! Only 2 coppers! Looking inside the stall, she could see a woman about thirty or forty holding a man's hand. She said something and Tris saw the man look excited. Curious, Tris asked the breezes to bring their conversation to her.

"--ask her now and she will surely accept," the woman was finishing.

"Thank you lady, a thousand times. I need to find Karina now." So saying, the man rose from the table and rushed out into the lanes between the stalls.

'What a joke,' Tris thought. 'I can see magic in her, but not very much.' Tris turned to leave.

"You, girl!" The hubbub in the line died when the Lady called out sharply. Turning to see who the woman was shouting at, Tris saw the woman's piercing eyes looking at her. "Red, come here," the woman called.

"No thank you," Tris said vehemently. "I'd rather not waste two coppers on bibble-babble."

Rather than look offended, the Lady of Fate only smiled. It was rather deformed and twisted, but it was a smile. "Free for you. Sit down." Tris wanted to leave, but somehow she couldn't make her legs move towards the lane; instead, they brought her towards the table where the woman sat. "Okay everyone, my stall is closed for a little while. Clear out."

The people left, shooting Tris poisonous glances. "What do you want?" Tris asked bluntly. "I really don't think that anything you tell me will be the least bit true. I know that few mages can see the complete future, and I doubt the small magic that you have could help you."

"Actually, I do see most of the close future accurately. Give me your hand."

"Why? I'm just a girl passing through."

"I can feel your magic, girl. I was about to read someone's fortune when I felt the buzz of my magic. When that happens, it means that I need to do something. When I looked at you, my head almost split in half. Either you have a lot of magic or your future is very important."

"I have some magic, but it's not that strong" _compared to Niko's and my foster-siblings'_,Tris added silently.

"Cut the lies child. I can feel your medallion." Tris snapped her head up to stare at the woman.

'But these medallions were spelled to be invisible,' Tris thought. 'How…'

"Your hand." the woman reached for her hand but Tris jerked her arm away.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Tris demanded. "If you don't tell me I'll--" Breezes whipped through the crowd and buffeted Tris and the Lady of Fate.

"I told you child, I am doing this because my magic demands it," the woman snapped. "And keep a reign on your temper. You'll hurt someone with your winds. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to read your future."

She grabbed Tris's hand and froze. Her eyes rolled back in her head and all the blood drained from her face. She gave a blood-curdling shriek and gripped Tris's hand tightly.

On her end, Tris felt a cool, odd sensation spread throughout her body. It was cold, yet it seemed to burn her. She saw a burst of magic flare from the woman, which blinded her. She was aware of wind whipping around her as she lost consciousness.

****

~*~

Tris woke up and saw three blobs above her. As her vision sharpened, she saw Niko, Keth, and Glaki looking at her with worried faced. Looking down, she saw Chime resting on her chest and Little Bear curled up at the foot of her bed at the end.

"What happened," she asked. Her throat felt dry and she felt weak and limp. 'This is like when I tried to stop the tides' she thought. "Well," she demanded.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Niko retorted. "I was wandering around the flare when I saw a flare of magic that nearly blinded me. I raced towards the source and saw a whole lane with wind whipping through everything. I found you and the fortuneteller passed out on the ground. She is already up by the way."

"She refused to tell us anything," Keth interrupted. "Said she'd only tell you what she saw."

"Niko, she said that her magic made her tell me my fortune. Is that possible?"

"Well, there are records of events in history in which someone was saved when they said their magic forced them to do something."

"So she could have been telling the truth."

"She was," Niko said grimly. "I tested her and not only was everything she said true, she told me that my truth spells were extremely strong. She can sense magic as well."

"I know, she told me she could…so what now?"

"Well, we can summon her and ask her what she saw. She is downstairs right now." Niko sent Glaki to fetch the fortuneteller, and they soon returned. "You may now tell us what happened Berlina."

"Not you. Just the girl." Berlina said.

"But I want them here," Tris protested. "Besides, I'd just tell them later."

"Fine," Berlina consented. "Well, when I grabbed you your magic overwhelmed me. I was electrocuted, burned, tied with thread, and stabbed by thorns simultaneously. It was rather painful. I don't suppose you'll happen to know how I felt so many magicks?"

"Erm, long story. Please continue," Niko answered.

The woman closed her eyes and continued. "Well, after your magic attacked me, I saw some things from your past and your future." At the words 'your past' Tris paled. "I don't think I need to recount your past. I saw your life flash by in seconds and it ended at Broken Circle Temple when your parents--"

"Just skip to the future," Tris said curtly. Glaki looked at Tris, wondering what had made her foster mother so angry.

"Well girl, I saw a rather convoluted future. It seemed like multiple futures to me. I remember a person calling you Daja as well as Sandry and Briar." Tris nodded for her to continue. "Apparently, I only saw the crossings of your life. Soon you will meet someone from your past, as well as make a great decision that will affect many. When I probed further to see what the decision would be, I was attacked again, and this time I was crushed by rocks, stepped on, broiled, and stabbed by splinters and glass shards as well as the original four magics. I believe that is when I passed out."

"Is that all?" Tris asked.

"Yes."

"So what do I do?"

"You continue traveling down your path in life until you reach the crossing. What I have done does not change anything. You merely have an advanced warning." So saying, Berlina, Lady of Fate swung around and left, closing the door behind her with a snap.

"Well, that was most interesting," Niko commented as he stroked his mustache. "If she felt all of those magics running through your body, then most likely many people will make the decision. But the person from your past-"

"Niko, that's enough. I can figure things out myself. Can I go to sleep now?" she demanded waspishly. 

Niko looked at her almost apologetically as he herded everyone from the room.

'Please don't come back,' she pleaded silently. 'I don't want you to come back. Just leave me alone. I want my life as it is.' It seemed what she had feared most had finally come. But why had she feared it so much. Thinking about her dreams and life, she realized why she was scared to see her family again. 'If my family comes back, I will be hurt and I will hurt those I care about…because I think I still want to be accepted by my family.' Ever since Tris had been a child, her one true wish had been to be accepted by them, welcomed with opened arms. She knew it was a foolish thing to still want after 5 years, but having grown up with that as her solemn wish, it appeared that part of her still held onto the wish. 'I shouldn't still want to be with them,' Tris thought desperately. 'I'm happy now, but I still want to be with them. Why, why!!' she felt tears plop on her clenched hands but made no move to wipe them off her cheeks. 'It isn't important why though. It's important because I still want them. If they ask me to come back, to join them, I might go back to them and leave my new family.'

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Okay, I know Tris seemed kind of out of character here. I know what I wanted and it made sense to me, but I know it's kind of portrayed badly here. So, to better explain: Tris knows that some one from her past (someone in her family) is going to come back. Even after everything that they did, Tris always wanted to be accepted. She is happy now, but she grew up with that wish so a part of her still wants her wish. If they welcome her and love her, which was her wish, she might go with them. I think it's possible, but if you don't, oh well. Feel free to flame. Next is Daja. This is going to take awhile because I have a vague idea but I still need to straighten it out. Don't know when the next chapter is going to go up.

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*Star Lily*


	5. The Storm

Hi everyone. Thanks for reading!!! This is Daja's chapter finally. Judging by the pace that I am going at, it looks like this story could have a lot of chapters. Sorry to people who wanted a nice short story. Anyways, I plan to give everyone one or two chapters before they meet again. Then I'll do a few more chapters before they come to The Big Decision (I have not decided what it is, by the way). It looks like this fic isn't all that Tris oriented after all. Happy reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything so don't sue me. Well, you could sue me but you'd probably only get about $5.

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At The Bay Inn in Green Rock in Sotat:

'Argh!!! It's still raining!' Daja thought with annoyance, looking out the window. They had been stuck at the Bay Inn for three days and the storm seemed to have no intention of letting up. 'Why now, why now?' she chanted in her head. 'Just three more days and I could have been back at Discipline.'

"Daja," Frostpine called from the doorway, "are you up yet? Can you come downstairs for a second? There are some people I want you to meet."

"Sure, just let me get ready." She called as she heard Frostpine shuffle down the stairs. She grabbed her staff, and headed downstairs. She saw Frostpine sitting with a black woman next to the window.

"Ah Daja," Frostpine said, spotting her. "Come here." Daja obediently walked over. To the woman, Frostpine said, "This is my student, Daja Kisubo."

"It is very nice to finally meet you Daja. I have heard so much about you from Frostpine's letters."

"Daja, this is my sister, Ayami."

"Nice to meet you," Daja greeted.

"She's my youngest sister. The only person in my family I've communicated with. Actually, this is the first time I've seen her since I left home. She just happened to be on her way south and had to stay in Green Rock to wait out the storm."

"At first I cursed the storm for delaying me, but now I bless it because I finally get to see my little brother again." Her voice was soft and pleasant and she seemed to be someone who enjoyed everything in life.

"Where were you going?" Daja asked.

"I was going to Jarram down south. I am a weaver and I go down there once a year to purchase materials. They have the best spinners in Jarram and their threads and yarns are wonderful."

Frostpine opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted when door burst open, admitting a band of tired seamen. People rushed to push the door closed and maids went to fetch towels for the men.

"We got caught out at sea," one sailor was explaining. "Barely made it to harbor."

"This storm's unnatural," one boarder muttered to his friend. "I tell you, it's like the gods themselves are mad at us."

"Our ship was swamped by a huge wave, which pushed us into this harbor. We've been walkin' blindly for what seems like days. Merrol there, our lookout, spotted the light from your inn and here we are." Looking around, the sailor, who seemed to be the leader, said "Hey, where's Sallar?" The other sailors looked around too and realized that one of their number was missing. "When was the last anyone saw him?"

One of the tall, burly men in the corner spoke up. "Last I saw, he was down in the cargo room. I don't know what he was doing though."

"I saw him down there too. Righ' before we was swamped by th' wave. He might' have still been stuck in th' hold when we left, Captain Damrel"

"Did anyone check in the hold before we left the boat?" the Captain asked. The men just looked at each other.

"Maybe a group ought to go out and try to find your ship," the innkeeper said.

"Nah, th' boats prob'ly gone by now," a young boy piped up. "And good riddance to bad rubbish."

"Merrol…" the captain said warningly.

"But it's true pa. He didn' do nothing an' he was always startin' trouble."

"Don't fergit when he tried to lift supplies," another seaman said.

"And when he tried to run off with the money from our sales in Majorn," another added in. "Merrol's right we're probably better off without that gutter-slime." Most of the other sailors nodded in agreement and none contradicted the statement.

"Now, now," Frostpine broke in, "you can't just leave a man to die out there. No matter how bad he may be, you can't condemn a man to death. If you don't like him, just kick him off your ship or turn him in to the justice system."

"Yes," Daja agreed, "you seem to be men with morals and if you let your opinion stop you from helping someone in trouble, you seem to be as unethical as him."

Some of the sailors looked ashamed while some just muttered their disagreement.

"You're all in a bad temper," she added, "what with the storm and all. We obviously can't go out right now so tomorrow when you've all recovered, we can send a group out."

"They're right men." the captain said. "We'll search for him in the morning when we feel better." the sailors agreed, some rather reluctantly but they did nonetheless, and the innkeeper led them upstairs.

"Nice job," Ayami complimented Daja. "If you weren't a mage, you'd make an excellent diplomat." Daja's blush was evident even under her dark skin when the rest of the guests added their compliments to Ayami's.

"Maybe," she said, "but diplomacy does take out one's nerves. I was kind of worried that a fight would start over whether to find him or not."

"Yes, but it seems that they will listen to their captain, so were lucky for that. Who knows what would have happened if he had not brought an end to the discussion." Slowly, the conversations that had been going on before the interruption resumed and Frostpine went back to talking with Ayami.

'That Sallar seems like a bad egg,' Daja thought. 'I hope I did the right thing by convincing them to rescue him. Wait, what am I thinking, of course I should have tried to get them to rescue him. Everyone deserves to live out their life.' Thinking on her past few years, she amended, 'Well, almost everyone. But he doesn't seem as bad as the pirates or Ben.' She shuddered thinking about the two enemies she had encountered.

"Maybe you ought to go upstairs," Ayami said, misinterpreting Daja's shiver. "I suggest you get into bed and poke up your fire. You're going to catch a cold otherwise."

"Maybe," Daja assented. Frostpine looked at her with question in his eyes. Daja had never caught a cold in her life and her magic could keep her body from getting cold. Avoiding his stare, she went upstairs and tried to sleep. But she couldn't. She would never admit it to Frostpine, but she still occasionally had dreams about the pirates and the fires. The pirates only happened every few months, but she still had nightmares about the fires in Namorn. Most often, she had dreams in which those she loved died.

In her dreams, she was always trapped in a pillar of fire and watched as those she cared about died. Normal people died in fires, but the mages died through some aspect of their magic. Sandry was assaulted by spindles and needles that pierced her skin and pulled threads through her body until she was only a crimson cocoon. Tris was struck by lightning and thorny vines grew through Briar. Then, she would be burnt by the fiery pillar that enclosed her.

She would wake up gasping then. Somehow, the dreams always recurred and no matter what she did, she couldn't figure out what caused them or why she dreamed them. After struggling to sleep, she gave up and took out pieces of living metal to work on.

Night wound down and she heard the inn settling down. She could feel Frostpine asleep in his room and only felt the body heat of maids cleaning in the main room. Nevertheless, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. The maids went to sleep leaving the innkeeper's daughter and two or three guests in the main room.

Suddenly, the door burst open and she felt someone straggle in. Throwing open the door to her room, she dashed down the stairs to help wrap up and settle the soggy stranger in a chair by the fireplace. He was shivering and hypothermia seemed to have set in. The innkeeper was summoned and he took the man to change and take a warm bath.

Daja talked in the main room with the others, and the innkeeper escorted the man down the stairs awhile later. Looking at the stranger, Daja felt uneasy and edgy. His face was mottled with scars and she could see more covering his hands and arms. He seemed rather coarse and rowdy and he looked like he got into tavern brawls regularly. One of his eyes was partially swollen shut from a black eye, and Daja could tell that the bruise was recent, most likely within the past week.

"What happened to you?" the innkeeper asked, handing the man a bowl of soup.

"My boat tipped and I was knocked out when a crate fell on my head. When I woke up, the ship was about 4 yards from shore and my crew had abandoned me. I swam in and walked into your fence. I climbed over, saw your light, and I came in."

"Are you Sallar?" Daja asked impulsively.

He looked at her warily. "Maybe. Who wants to know?"

"I'm Daja Kisubo. Captain Damrel and his crew came in her this afternoon, and we were going to look for you tomorrow."

"Daja Kisubo, you say…Tell me, are you from Emelan? Summersea, Emelan?"

It was Daja's turn to look wary. "Yes…why?"

"Do you have magic? Plants or wind or something?"

"Magic yes, but plants and wind no," she said slowly. "Why?" she repeated.

"Did you fight a pirate fleet a few years back, four I think?"

"Why?" She felt like a parrot, but something about this man unnerved her.

"Just want to know. I think I've heard tales of a Daja Kisubo and her three friends destroying a fleet."

"That was me," she said with a little relief. So he only asked for curiosity's sake.

"Well, then, young one, shouldn't you ought to be in bed? Don't let this old seaman keep you from your bed."

"Maybe you ought to get to bed too," the innkeeper said. "You'll need to rest to recover from your journey."

"Perhaps," Sallar acceded. "I'll just bunk down here."

"You can sleep in one of the rooms we gave to your crew," the innkeeper interrupted.

"No thanks," Sallar said with a twisted smirk. "I don't think they'll be that happy to see me."

"Why not?" one of the people in the room asked.

"I'm afraid I'm not on their list of their favorite people. I don't get along well with them."

"Oh."

"Let's let the man sleep," the innkeeper's daughter said. The gathering agreed and retired to their rooms.

Daja went upstairs to her room and shut the door behind her. Looking out the window, she could see the lightning flickering in the distance. She sank into her bed and burrowed under her covers. She tossed and turned, but couldn't sleep. Finally, she slipped out of bed, padded over to the door, and turned the lock. She put a bit of her power into the lock to make it resistant to all hands except hers. She went back to the bed and fell asleep.

~*~

"Daja!!! Daja!!!" Daja awoke to Frostpine hammering on her door. She rolled/fell out of bed and scrambled to the door. "What did you magic your lock for?!?" he demanded. "I practically had to break your door down to get you up."

"Sorry," she apologized. "I went to bed late. Besides, you should have just come in instead of waking up the whole inn."

"That would have been simple had you not frozen your lock with your magic."

She gave him an odd look. "But why didn't you just--"

"Frostpine!" Ayami called from the head of the stairs. "Hurry up. There won't be much room left downstairs." Seeing Daja, she added, "And you should have let her sleep in. She was up late with the new guest. Just because you couldn't open her lock is no reason to hammer her door down from annoyance."

'Frostpine couldn't open my lock? But he's always been strong enough to overpower my magic. What's going on?'

"Daja, you come too," Ayami called. "I haven't had a chance to talk with you yet."

"Coming," Daja called. "Just let me get dressed."

Clumping down the stairs a few minutes later, Daja could seen that Sallar had already risen and gone somewhere. "He went to the stables with some servants," Janiain, the innkeeper's daughter, responded to Daja's inquiry. "The storm slackened a bit early this morning and he said he wasn't comfortable amongst many people. We've strung a line up from the kitchen to the stables and barn so you can go see him. Just hold onto the string and walk."

"I think I'll go see the horses. Would you mind telling Frostpine, the bald, tall, black man with a beard, that I'll be back later? To tell the truth, I'm not that comfortable with tons of people either."

"Sure, just make sure you don't let go of the line. If you do, you could wander around for days, blind from the wind and rain." Daja nodded acknowledgement and made her way through the kitchen and out the back door. Lightning struck in the distance and lit the yard eerily.

'Maybe this storm is unnatural,' Daja thought. 'I always feel uneasy when I look at the storm, like I ought to see something obvious but I don't.' Gripping the string firmly, Daja walked its length. Lightning lit the yard once more. 'I wish the storm would pass over, or at least the lightning. It's been hanging around over there for a long time.'

She reached the stables and eased the door open a crack and slipped in. 'Wait a minute, that lightning hasn't moved at all. It's like the storm the pir--' Daja's thought was cut off as she tripped over something in the dim light. 'Now what did I trip over?' she asked herself. Squinting to look, she saw the body of one of the stable hands. Looking around, she could see other lumps on the floor. Daja quickly knelt and was relieved to feel a pulse. 'Just asleep. But who could have done this. They couldn't all have fainted.'

She heard a faint whisper coming from one of the stalls and ducked into the shadows. Creeping closer, she peered through a crack in the boards and saw a man's head on the floor. Biting down a scream, she looked closer and saw that it was actually a head in a mirror. 'Someone's speaking through a mirror. But who, and why?'

"Yessir, milord," she heard a deep, rough voice say. She moved to the side and looked through a different crack. She saw a man's silhouette against the lantern set to the side of the mirror. "This afternoon, you'll land and I'll be waiting." He cocked his head, as though listening to someone. "Understood. I'll carry out my duty. Milord, I ask one favor. There is someone here I'd like to kill. I just want to kill her; the rest may be taken as slaves or killed. Whatever you want." He listened again. "I wish to kill her for vengeance, milord. She killed my brother and sister and did this to me."

He sat back on his heels and the lamp illuminated his face. Daja couldn't stop a small gasp from escaping. "Who's there?" he called sharply, snapping the mirror down quickly. He opened the door and saw Daja. "Well, well, just who I was looking for. You did this to me." He indicated the scars on his face and arms. "And you killed Pauha and Enahar. Now, I shall kill you." Daja tried to run, to throw magic, to do something-anything, but she couldn't move. Her body was made immobile by the layer of magic that coated her body and prevented her from moving. All she could do was hope someone would come help as Sallar advanced on her frozen form.

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Okay everyone. Next is Briar and Evvy. It seems like it is going to be more about Evvy, so sorry Briar fans. I'll try to put in a lot of Briar though. I think I'll just write these in a cycle. Sorry if this chapter was really lame. It was hard to think of an idea for Daja and this was the best I came up with. Hopefully the rest will be better.

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*Star Lily*


	6. Evvy's Gift

Yay, Briar's second chapter. Now you all get to find out what happens and who Ryku is, so stop threatening me!! Anyways, on with the story.

Disclaimer: Okay, I do not own the characters or CoM and CoMO. They belong to Tamora Pierce, which is why this story is under the category Tamora Pierce.

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In Lingrei in Yanjing:

__

Ryku Dingzai?!?

Evvy turned pale under her golden skin and looked like she was about to faint or be sick.

"Evvy, what's wrong? Are you sick? Do you know him?"

Evvy paid no attention to her teacher's questions. "Ryku?" she repeated, her voice a soft whisper. Ryku looked at her, puzzled. "It's me, Evumeimei."

"Evumeimei?" he asked, drawing his breath in sharply. "What are you doing here? Mother and father sold you in Chammur." At the words 'mother and father' the happy look in Evvy's eyes faded as they darkened.

"They aren't my parents," she said fiercely, hate swirling in her eyes. "I hate them. I never want to see them again. I hope they rot and die!!" She turned and ran out the door, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Evumeimei!"

"Evvy, wait!" Briar ran out after her, leaving Rosethorn, Malip, and Ryku standing in an awkward silence.

"Well," Rosethorn said, breaking the silence, "Maybe we ought to sit down and you can explain Ryku." Ryku opened his mouth to protest. "Now," she said, her voice sharp. He blinked and obediently sat down. She looked at the _Djai_, who hastily followed the young man's example.

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~*~

"Jeez, Evvy," Briar panted. "You sure run fast." Scanning his surroundings, he could see no sign of the stone mage. He closed his eyes and felt for her vine. Opening his eyes, he walked to a pile of rocks and saw her sobbing between two boulders. "C'mon Evvy, let's go back."

"No, I'm not going back if he's still there!"

"Evvy, you are coming back whether you like it or not. Now, you can either come peacefully or I can have my plants escort you back to the house." She glared at him stubbornly.

"Fine," she said. "But don't expect me to do anything. And I'm not talking to him."

"Fine," Briar agreed tiredly. He just wanted to get home.

****

~*~

"Evumeimei was-is the youngest in my family and my only sister. About 5 years ago, when I was 12, my parents decided to move west. We needed money, so as we were passing through Chammur, my parents sold her." Rosethorn looked at him disdainfully.

"Now what?" she demanded.

"Huh," he asked confused.

"What are you going to do now?" she elaborated. "Evvy obviously doesn't want to talk or even look at you or her old family."

"I know," Ryku whispered sadly. "Evumeimei cried as hard as anything when we sold her and then she shouted that she hated us all. I suppose we deserve it; our parents sold her and we, my brothers and I, didn't do anything to help her."

"Your, not our," Evvy said abruptly, following Briar in.

"Evumeimei," Ryku breathed. "Listen, I'm so, so, sor-"

"Shut up!" she yelled. I don't want to listen to you. She glared at him and jutted her chin out stubbornly. He lowered his gaze from her flashing eyes.

"Evumeimei-"

"It's Evvy, she interrupted. "Not that you need to know because you are never going to talk to me again!"

"Evumeimei wait, listen to me!" Ryku grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. The house rumbled and he staggered.

"Don't ever touch me again," she hissed. The floor trembled again.

"Evvy," Briar said sharply. "Calm down before you bring the house down around our ears." She looked at him and looked down, ashamed. She breathed in and out slowly and the ground stopped shaking.

"Don't ever talk, touch, or try to contact me." Evvy said quietly. "If you do," the floor trembled slightly. She walked out, closing the door with a snap.

"Well," _Djai_ Malip said into the sudden quiet.

"That was rather exciting," Rosethorn said dryly. The tension in the room lessened slightly at her ridiculous statement.

"We better get going," Malip said to Ryku. "We need to get to work finding the components of the serum."

"What?" Rosethorn demanded. "Your decoding a serum."

Malip looked at her wearily. "We're trying, but none of our mages can even touch the stuff without getting rejected."

Rosethorn's eyes flickered with interest. "It rejects you?"

"Weak mages, yes." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "We're working on it now."

"Well then, you just happen to be in the presence of a plant mage who specializes in taking apart substances. Where are you working? I'll help you tomorrow."

"The Mage Laboratory on Sea Street," he said slowly, as though the situation was moving far too fast for him.

"Well, the boy and I shall see you tomorrow," Rosethorn said, leading Malip and Ryku to the door. "Go to bed, boy. We'll be up early tomorrow. I can't wait to see this serum."

Upstairs, Evvy listened to their conversation. 'I guess I can try to help them,' she thought. I've heard them talk about picking apart stuff. I might be able to pick stuff apart too.' Shifting Asa aside, Evvy laid her head on her pillow and dozed off.

****

~*~

Evvy woke up early the next morning and bounced out of bed eagerly. She remembered that today she might learn how to take apart things. Evvy loved learning new things, and the unpleasantness of the day before was overruled by her happiness of learning. Hopping down the steps, she skipped into the kitchen and plopped down in her seat.

"I'm glad to see that you're not bothered by yesterday," Rosethorn remarked.

Evvy frowned a little at the memory, but then she cheerfully grinned again. "Today I can learn to take the serum apart," she said.

Rosethorn looked surprised. "Actually," she said slowly, "I wasn't planning to take you." Evvy looked aghast.

"C'mon Rosethorn, let her. She wants to learn and she might have a gift for it," Briar said, yawning as he entered the kitchen.

"Okay I suppose, but don't get into mischief. It is dreadfully dull so if you get bored you'll still have to stay and not complain," Rosethorn warned.

"Okay, I promise. So when are we going?"

"Well leave right after we finish breakfast."

Evvy gobbled down her breakfast in record time. "Hurry _Pahan_ Briar, hurry!" she urged.

"Calm down kid," he growled. "I intend to enjoy my breakfast before I'm dragged of for a boring day of torture."

Nonetheless, he did speed up a little, and they were soon walking to the laboratory. Evvy skipped around the two mages, happy that she would soon learn something new and exciting. Rosethorn had once described the process, and Evvy thought that it sounded interesting. _Pahan_ Briar always complained and groaned, but then again, he complained and groaned about everything. The laboratory was not too far from the house, and they arrived in a few minutes.

"Come with me Evvy," Rosethorn said grabbing Evvy's hand and dragging her to a door on one side of the entry hall. Briar went through a door on the opposite side of the room. "We need to scrub first," Rosethorn explained, handing the girl a scrubber, soap, and clothes. "That way, we will not bring in any outside influences that can affect our research. Evvy scrubbed and changed quickly. The gloves were a little big, but the robe and mask fit reasonably well. "Just roll up the sides," Rosethorn advised. "That will keep the gloves from slipping down." Evvy did as Rosethorn said as they entered the laboratory.

Evvy looked up from her gloves and glanced around in awe. The bright sunlight entered through the glass roof and south wall. The rays were reflected off of the glassware and shiny tabletops and utensils. People of varied ages were working at counters, measuring and testing mixtures.

"About time," Briar said. "Honestly, girls take forever to get ready." Evvy rolled her eyes, used to Briar's comments.

"Oh, _Scijia_ Rosethorn," Malip said, coming in from a door to their right. "This way." He led the group through the door and down a corridor with many doors opening off of it. He opened a door near the end of the hallway. The room was slightly large and square, and the top half of all of the walls were glass windows. There were two skylights, one above the counter with cabinets and one above the two small tables close to the door.

"The serum's in that cabinet," he said pointing to a glass cabinet above the counter.

The glass was very thick and Evvy could only see dark blobs through the doors. Evvy walked over to the counter and pulled open the doors. They were about 3 inches thick, and she could smell herbs from the oils brushed over them. Sniffing, she recognized the herbs that Briar and Rosethorn used in their oils for cleansing and protection. Inside were 4 shelves and a covered basket sat on the bottom shelf. There was a sealed glass jar next to the basket about half full of a yellow-tinted liquid, and the top three shelves were full of various bottles, jars, and packets.

"This is the Herastor," Malip said, grabbing the jar on the bottom shelf. He carried it over to a table and helped Rosethorn and Briar set out the bowls, jars, and utensils that they needed.

Evvy peered inside the basket and recognized the green bottle from the day before. 'I guess I'll bring this,' she thought. She grabbed the handles but her gloves prevented her from getting a firm grip. 'I'll just bring the bottle,' she thought. 'After all, it is the only cure for Herastor and I don't want to spill it. Lifting the bottle up, she felt something cool and comforting flow through her veins and decided that it wasn't going to reject her. She peered inside and saw less than a spoonful of amber liquid. 'There's not much,' she thought. Evvy brought the bottle over to the table.

"What should I do with this?" she asked.

"You can set it next to the disease," Briar told her absentmindedly, still setting up his workstation. Rosethorn pointed to the jar out to the girl and turned back to her station. Malip, however, was staring at her, his face ashen.

"What?" she demanded crossly, gently setting the bottle down before turning to glare at the _Djai_. Rosethorn and Briar turned at her tone of voice and also stared at the man, though with curiosity and not annoyance.

"How?" he said in a strangled voice.

"How what?!" Evvy asked.

"How can you touch it," a voice whispered quietly from the doorway. Evvy scowled and immediately turned her glare to Ryku. However, he was looking at the bottle on the table with an odd look on his face.

"To touch it, you put your hands around the bottle and grab it," Evvy retorted, dislike evident in her voice.

"Yesterday-," Malip cleared his throat. "Yesterday, our most accomplished and strongest mage couldn't even set one finger on it.

"Really?" Briar asked interested. He grabbed the bottle. He gave a squeak of surprise when small lightnings danced over his hand and the rubber of his glove melted from the heat. "What's going on? This didn't happen yesterday." Briar held the bottle near his eyes. He seemed indifferent to the lightning and heat. "There's something written around the neck," he said squinting at it.

"Where?!" Malip demanded. He peered at the bottle. "I don't see anything!" he shouted, outraged.

"It's written in magic," Briar said carelessly, still squinting at the rim. "It's written in a weird language though." Evvy stood on her toes and looked over Briar's shoulder at the bottle. Squiggly lines were glowing around the neck.

"Hold it lower," she commanded, yanking on his arm. "I want to see too." Malip and Rosethorn looked at her.

"You can see it?" Rosethorn asked with surprise.

"Of course I can. It's glowing bright as anything. _Pahan_ Briar, I still can't see." She grabbed the bulb of the bottle, intending to take it from him. When she touched it, there was a burst of bright light that faded instantly. Briar set the bottle on the table as he and Evvy wiped their watering eyes.

"And what was that?" Evvy asked irritably. This picking apart stuff wasn't turning out to be as fun as she thought.

"Don't ask me," Briar retorted. "It only happened when you touched it. And now that I think about it, it only attacked me after you had touched it."

"Hey, I can see the writing," Ryku said, interrupting the quarrel.

Everyone gathered round the bottle. Malip gingerly tapped it lightly with a finger. "Hey, it's not rejecting me," he said excitedly. He held it up to the light and pulled out a seeing crystal. Looking at it, Evvy could see the words magnified. "It's written in the old language. Ryku, give me some paper so I can write it down."

He carefully copied the scribbles and soon had gone around the whole rim. He sat at the table and translated it. It took a very long time and Evvy grew restless with impatience. Ryku had to leave to go home and help his parents. Evvy went over to the cabinet and looked at the powders and syrups, taking care to read the labels first. She had learned her lesson after sniffing a bottle of redroot. She had itched and sneezed for weeks while both Briar and Rosethorn lectured her about getting into unknown substances.

She recognized many of them and examined the unfamiliar ones. She could guess what some ingredients were from her lessons from Briar. Idly touching the bottles and jars, she paused when her fingers came in contact with a small packet wedged in a crack at the back of a shelf. 'It must have gotten lost back there,' she thought, blowing dust off of it. It felt very strong, yet oddly familiar and comforting. Opening the packet, she stuck a finger in the gray dust. She was immediately assailed with images of the Chammur marketplace and Nahim's stall. 'This is one of my rocks.' she realized. 'I made it…but…why is it so strong. It's like something else was mixed in.'

She examined the packet and saw the words 'blessed nitad' penciled in the corner. 'Nitad,' she thought. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the nitad rocks she had cleaned. She had touched nitad rarely as the gray gemstone was rather rare and hard to get. A memory immediately surfaced.

It had been cold that day and she had tried to rush through the baskets. About to leave, Nahim had set a basket and told her she'd receive an extra copper when she cleaned them. The nitad had been at the bottom and she had reached it at the end when she was weary. She had reached into the basket and grabbed the nitad. Immediately, prickles went through her skin and she felt an alien force enter her body. She had pushed it out ('my magic' she realized) and tried to clean it of the evil force. She scrubbed it hard, trying to push the darkness out. A blast of heat had passed from her palms to the stone and afterward, the rock had felt pure and clean.

She had chalked it up to imagination then, but now she realized that she had done something to the stone-changed it.

"_Pahan_ Briar…" Something about her voice made him turn to face her with a worried look. She walked towards him unsteadily, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. The packet seemed to be warming in her fingers as she approached the group at the table. She handed the packet to him wordlessly. He grabbed it and lightning bolts played about his hand. It glowed slightly.

"It's like the serum," he whispered. "But how.." He looked at Evvy, but she just looked as confused as him.

"I've got it! It gives the instructions for making the serum!" Malip shouted in excitement. "Let's see…chamomile, astim…parld,…" He mumbled the ingredients, scanning them to see if the had them all. "Wait, what's this," he asked, frowning. "It says a pure, cleansed stone. What does that mean?"

Mutely Briar held the packet out to him. "This is a cleansed stone, _Djai_ Malip. My guess is that only stone mages may cleanse stones; an extremely strong mage is needed to completely purify the stone and it must reject anything tainted. Magic is pure so only mages could get close to it. However, I'm afraid that our souls aren't pure enough for the stone. The rejection probably destroys any contamination, including illnesses."

"They must have diluted the stone to weaken the effects so that only illnesses were attacked." Rosethorn smiled crookedly. "Otherwise, I'm afraid that the patient would have been shocked and burned to death."

"Evvy, it looks like you're the only one who can make it. After all, you do have one of the strongest stone magicks I know. Even the mages at Winding Circle would have a hard time breaking a diamond."

'I can make the serum,' Evvy thought as realization sunk in. 'I can make it to heal people and save lives.'

"_Djai_, _Djai_!!!!" Ryku dashed into the room. "My mother has Herastor! She's already delirious! You have to help her! You need to give her the serum!"

"Here now, Ryku," Malip said hesitantly, "there's not much left and what we have, we need to experiment with."

"But my mother!!!"

"Don't worry Ryku. She'll hang on for at least two more weeks, long enough for our stone mage here to whip up a new batch." He turned to beam at Evvy. "Tomorrow you can start cleansing stones to make the serum."

Briar looked at Evvy with concern. She was trembling slightly and her fists were tightly clenched.

Malip rattled on, oblivious to Evvy's countenance. "We'll give it to Ryku's mother and she'll be fine, completely recovered."

"No! Absolutely not!" Evvy's eyes blazed as she glared at the _Djai_. "I will _never_ help her! Ever! I hate her and I'm glad she's going to die of Herastor! I'd rather she become crippled but I'll settle for her dying!" She glared at her audience defiantly as she shouted her last sentence.

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Oooh, exciting. Evvy's not gonna help her dying mother. You'll need to wait four more chapters to see what happens. By the way, before anyone asks, it's not Briar/Evvy. Even though they are close, they are not like that. They are teacher and student and that's all. Next is Sandry so now you can find out her plan.

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*Star Lily*


	7. Sandry's Plan

Disclaimer: I only own my plot. If you think I own CoM or CoMO, I'll sell you a bridge. (That's a joke. If you believe I own 'em, you're probably gullible enough to buy a bridge from someone. I don't actually own a bridge).

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In The Duke's Citadel in Summersea in Emelan:

Sandry opened her eyes and squinted in the bright rays of the sun. 'Eeesh, I must have forgotten to close my curtains,' she thought as she rolled over. She buried her head under her pillow to try to go back to sleep, but to no avail. Deciding not to waste time trying to sleep when it couldn't be done, she got out of bed and got ready for the day.

It was actually only slightly after dawn and only the servants were up. She told the cook to bring her breakfast to the sitting room. Sandry had actually turned the sitting room into her workshop, complete with a collection of spindles, two looms, and various materials that she used for her work.

Sandry entered her workroom and immediately headed for a tapestry hanging in the corner. Lifting up a corner, she stuck her hand into the hollow behind it and pulled out a small metal box. Opening it, she drew out a yellow book with a swirly pattern, her diary. She also took out a stick of charcoal and started her diary entry.

She started by writing about her recent predicament and the visit to Lark. Sandry scribbled away furiously, trying to put down all of her thoughts before they could escape. She wanted to have everything down so that she would be able to see the whole situation. Sandry finished writing everything that she could think of and started the most important part, her decision.

__

I have decided to try to compromise with Lord Frantsen. The other option would be to ignore him, but I doubt that it would help the situation. I must try to placate him, but I definitely cannot give him the ruler-ship. I know that he would not make a good ruler so I cannot offer it to him. But I do not know what else to offer. I have a great deal of money, but I doubt that he needs it. I do not have anything to make up for the loss of the crown. From what I hear of him, he is most likely going to demand that I let him become Duke if I ask him to make his peace with me. I cannot think of any plan to carry out my wishes. I'm not even a ruler yet and I already have a heap of problems! If I became the Duchess, I would undoubtedly have even more problems. Maybe I should decline, but then what would Uncle do? Would he give the crown to Lord Rimst or Lord Hirim, or would he give it to someone else? And would the person chosen in my place be a good ruler? Oh, I'm so confused. Perhaps Hirim or Rimst could be a good ruler. This matter bears more consideration.

Sandry sighed, reading over her entry. It had not helped her very much.

"Your ladyship," a maid called from the door. "Your ladyship."

Sandry pulled the door open. "Yes, what is it?"

"His grace requests your presence in the meeting room. Immediately. He said it was very urgent."

Sandry frowned. Her uncle didn't usually have urgent matters for her to attend to. "Alright, just let me put away my stuff. I'll be there in a second." The maid left and Sandry put her diary away and sealed the tapestry so that it could only be moved by her magic. She strode down the hall quickly to the conference room. She could her the murmur of many voices, at least four people. She winced when a loud voice rang out. 'Lord Frantsen,' she thought, quickening her pace. 'This can't be good.'

She knocked on the door as a high, whiny female voice shrilled something. 'Lady Nissa too,' she thought grimly. 'Definitely not good.' Sandry poked her head inside and saw Duke Vedris seated at the head of the table. Erdogun sat to the left of the duke. Frantsen and Nissa were on the left side of the table and two men that were vaguely familiar sat on the right side of the table.

"Sandrilene, come in," Vedris said. "Have a seat." He motioned to the chair at his right. Sandry walked towards her uncle stiffly, aware of the poisonous glances from Frantsen and Nissa. "Allow me to introduce your other two cousins," the duke said after Sandry sat down. "Lord Rimst," he nodded at a pale man with a rather bored look on his face, "and Lord Hirim," he gestured at the youngest with a round face and rather amiable yet timid expression. "Lord Frantsen and Lady Nissa you already know."

Sandry nodded at each politely as her Uncle said their name. Lord Rimst cast a rather cool, expressionless glance at the girl and turned away. Lord Hirim smiled at the girl rather nervously and wrung the hem his tunic in his hands. Lord Frantsen gave her a stiff nod while Lady Nissa glared at the young mage.

"Let's get to business," Frantsen began. "I'm the oldest and I'm your son. Therefore, I should inherit the crown as is custom instead of a little girl with piddly powers." Lady Nissa sniffed her disapproval of Sandry.

"Whatever," Lord Rimst said. He seemed rather disassociated from the rest of the group. "Can we hurry up? I would really like to get back to my estate. I don't see why my presence is required in a quarrel between my brother and a child."

"Umm, w-well I think th-that," Lord Hirim stuttered under Nissa and Frantsen's vicious gazes, "muh-maybe the ch-choice ought to b-be made b-by f-f-father. B-besides, Lady S-Sandrilene d-doesn't seem that b-bad a girl." He flushed red and shrank into himself when Lord Frantsen glared at him.

"It's a simple matter," Frantsen said. "I should rightfully get the throne. She is a child who claims to have powers and she is hardly even related. Everything should go to the eldest son."

"Usually, my son," Duke Vedris said politely, "but this concerns everyone, not just our family. We must think of them as well."

Frantsen banged his fist on the table in anger. "I'm the oldest. It's mine. She is too young to handle the responsibility. Surely you realize that a 16-year-old girl ought to be married off and settled down respectably. She is not strong enough nor does she have the willpower to hold such a position. Anarchy would ensue while she occupied her pretty little head with thoughts of embroidery and needlework and whatever other little things women think about."

"I disagree, my lord," Sandry said quietly, choosing her words carefully. Though young, she excluded some of the commanding aura her uncle did. "I may be young, but I am mature and Uncle is not going to…to pass the throne on for a long time. I know some matters of governing as I am currently helping in governmental matters and I would most assuredly be able to learn all that I need to know when the time comes."

"Hah," Lady Nissa laughed, her voice grating on Sandry's ears. "Be quiet you foolish child. You know nothing and you merely want the throne to snare a husband. After all, who would want a little girl like you," she shrilled disgustedly. Her opinion of Sandry was obvious.

"Just give in girl," Rimst cut in, "You'll crack sooner or later." His pale eyes were focused on her condescendingly. "No female has the grit to stand up against a man." Sandry clenched her hands to prevent herself from doing something awful. She was used to condescending remarks, but for some reason, her patience was not as abundant as it usually was. "Father, your decision to pass over Frantsen is valid, but why did you have to choose a child. Perhaps you ought to rethink your decision and pass your throne on." Sandry could tell from his tone that he thought that his father was senile.

Lady Nissa had been whispering in Frantsen's ear, and Sandry cocked her head slightly to hear their conversation. She had learned how to focus Tris's power slightly and it would be easy with them this close. "--the old fool. Well do something to get rid of the slut."

Lord Frantsen whispered back, "--knows what she's done to him. Undoubtedly sucking up to him and sleeping with half his advisory council. The crazy coot was too stupid to realize what the stupid b*#@~ was doing."

Lady Nissa noticed Sandry's intense gaze on the two. "What do you want, slut?" she demanded nastily.

Admirably, Sandry kept her temper in check-just barely. Apparently, her store of patience had not completely replenished and she found herself considering changing her decision. It would have been so easy to just cocoon them or use her magic to get rid of them. She stared into her lap and fiddled with her fingers to try to bleed off some of her anger.

Lady Nissa seemed to take her reaction as weak submission. "Stupid child," she said triumphantly. "You'll probably give the kingdom to whoever yells for it. The crazy old fool obviously took leave of his senses when he chose you!" she said contemptuously.

Sandry could no longer take the insults to her guardian and raised her head to glare at Lady Nissa. The older woman flinched and her chair squeaked as she unconsciously backed away from the furious girl. The others in the room shifted uncomfortably and threads wiggled slightly, though not enough to catch the attention of those who did not know about her power.

Sandry could feel her power starting to escape from her grasp. She fought to grab them back but for some reason, her power seemed to be much stronger. "Please excuse me," she said brusquely, aware that something bad would happen if she didn't get out of there and her power under control again. She fled the room quickly, not even noticing the puzzled, somewhat fearful glances on her. After she left, everyone seemed to slump down as though drained from a taxing exercise.

****

~*~

Dinner that night was tense and strained for everyone. Lord Frantsen and Lady Nissa had recovered from the afternoon and glared at Sandry, though rather uneasily. Rimst was ignoring everyone and Hirim just stared at his lap. Sandry felt tired and out of sorts and the duke seemed to be uneasy.

'How am I supposed to solve this problem?' Sandry demanded. 'Frantsen and Nissa hate me and Rimst doesn't support me. Uncle is the only one who supports me.' She glanced at Hirim. 'He seems too timid to choose a side, although he did seem to like me more than Frantsen.' She sighed inwardly and she felt her headache increase.

They finished the dinner in silence and retired to the conference room. The debate now was more subdued, though from fear of Sandry or just plain weariness was unclear. "I demand that I become the heir," Frantsen said, though not as forcefully.

"I'm sorry, my son, but you just do not possess the qualities needed for a ruler," Duke Vedris repeated wearily. The argument was an old one and had not been settled yet.

"He's perfect," Lady Nissa insisted. "All he has to do is order people about and people are more apt to listen to a mature man that a little girl. If he wanted, he could probably get people to rally to support his name. I'll bet the child wouldn't have anyone." She sniffed in Sandry's direction.

"That's not true," Sandry said as politely as she could. "A ruler does not order people about. They would hate him and surely turn against him."

Lord Rimst glanced at her, "My dear child," he began, his voice so sickeningly sweet yet condescending that Sandry felt like throwing up, "you should leave these matters to learned men and get back to sewing your pretty little dresses and such."

Rather than reply, Sandry just closed her eyes and leaned back. Nothing was happening and the sides were at a stalemate, neither giving nor taking. "Fine, Uncle, what if I decide to refuse the title. Then who do you choose?" The duke looked at her incredulously. "Hypothetically," she added, seeing Lady Nissa's sneer of triumph. "So…who do you choose?" The duke closed his eyes and thought for a long moment as everyone stared at him.

"Well," he began slowly, "I would visit Namorn and choose one of my other nieces or nephews."

"What?!?" Lady Nissa and Lord Frantsen exclaimed, outraged. "You would skip over your sons and choose some foreigner you have never met before?"

"While I love you all dearly, I regret to say that none of you would be a good ruler," the duke replied.

Sandry eyed the men. 'Hmmm, Frantsen and Nissa are greedy and self-centered. Lord Rimst wouldn't care about anything. Hirim would probably do whatever someone shouted at him to do.' She had to agree with Duke Vedris. None would be good choices, and while she had doubts about her own judgment, she would probably be better than they would. She thought about her Namornese relatives. 'They probably would not be accepted and they might not be that good after what I saw of them.'

"Fine, I accept your proposal to become ruler of Emelan after you Uncle," she said quietly. "However," she said seeing Frantsen and Nissa open their mouths to object, "I think that we must come to some sort of compromise."

"There is no way to compromise," Frantsen said nastily. "I either become heir or nothing."

"How about if we try to make it so that you will have power, yet not complete power. I assure that I am not going to give in and you know that you have been passed over. I think that I shall have the knowledge to rule when I am…27 or 28 summers and until I am of age, you may be regent. But you cannot be an all powerful regent. You must listen to my opinion and the councils. After I am of age, I shall take over and you can be an advisor or on the council, your choice." Frantsen considered her idea and he did not seem that upset. "Of course, we can always change some details and such to satisfy both of us."

"It seems good, Sandrilene. And my son, what about you?"

Frantsen hesitated a bit before answering, "Perhaps it could work, although I should have more privileges and such." Nissa looked at her husband, shocked and angry that he would comply.

"Wh-wha-what are you thinking?" she sputtered. "We deserve to inherit."

"Nissa, this is getting tiresome. This is the only good end that I see. Truth to tell, I don't think that there is any other choice other than a compromise." She tried to protest. "This is my decision as I am the concerned party," he said, voice hard. She sat back, subdued, though she continued to glare, alternating between Sandry and her husband.

"Now that a decision has been reached," the duke said, "perhaps we should retire and continue our negotiations tomorrow. Sandry and Frantsen nodded ascension while the rest of the group did nothing.

The meeting disbanded and Sandry went to her workroom to record in her journal. She sat near the fireplace and used one of Daja and Tris's glow-stones to write by. She stayed up late and she judged it to be around midnight when she finished. She put her things away and tidied up the workroom.

She headed for her room, stopping by the kitchens for a midnight snack. Her appetite had returned, and she was hungry after only picking at her dinner. As she had gone to the kitchens, she decided to go up one of the back stairwells closer to the kitchen. A sitting room was located right near the stairwell, and Sandry could see light seeping out through the cracks of the door.

'Now who could that be,' she mused. 'Uncle doesn't use that room and everyone that I know would be abed by now.' She put her hand out to push the door open but froze when she heard part of the conversation. The door muffled the words, but the speaker's high, whiny voice carried through well.

"--tomorrow we'll kill him," the voice was saying. Sandry's eyes widened at Lady Nissa's words.

The reply was unintelligible and Sandry couldn't make out any words.

"We'll do it at a private meeting," Lady Nissa said impatiently. We'll get rid of the girl and change the will so that you can be Duke of Emelan.

The man's voice was too low for Sandry to hear anything clearly.

"We can say that we persuaded him to change his mind. The girl won't be around to get in the way." Lady Nissa paused. Lord Rimst won't interfere but we may have to get rid of your brother."

Sandry heard the man mutter something but his voice was too distorted for her to tell who it was.

"Don't tell me you have qualms about killing your father and brother. You've complained to me often enough about them. I don't care as long as I become Duchess."

Sandry backed away slowly and fled up the stairs to her room. 'Nissa and Frantsen are planning to kill Uncle and Hirim. What am I going to do.' She paced the room, trying to think. 'They'll do it tomorrow, Nissa said, so I'll have to warn Uncle and Hirim before the meeting.' She wrung her braids, agitated, 'Maybe I ought to wake uncle now,' she thought. 'Ugh, but I have no proof. Everyone will think I made it up. I'll just have to protect uncle and stop them before they do anything. I'll have to warn Hirim too, although I don't know what he'll do.'

She got into bed. 'Okay, so I'll warn Hirim and protect Uncle tomorrow.' She pulled the curtains open so that she would wake up when the sun rose. She heard a rustle in the hallway. 'And myself," she thought, suddenly cold. They want to kill me too. But they'll have to do something drastic to kill three people at once without anyone suspecting something.'

Sandry got up and turned the lock in the doorway and moved several pieces of furniture against the door. She strengthened her tie to her uncle and was relieved to feel him calmly sleeping. She went back to bed and tried to sleep lightly to be ready for anything. Her efforts were useless however, and her tired body immediately went into a deep sleep.

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Okay, bad compromise but I have to end Sandry's part in her next chapter and that is the only thing simple enough. This chapter was probably boring because it was only conversations, so sorry if it bored you. Next is Tris. I'm working on _The Breaking _when I don't feel like writing these, so _Breaking _will probably be updated every other week or so_._

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*Star Lily*


	8. Tsunami

In Nimur in Hatar:

A small group threaded their way through the bustling crowds in Nimur, Hatar. People rushed back and forth, paying no attention to their neighbors, focused only on their own lives. A red-headed girl stretched out her hand to snatch a small, dark-haired girl from the path of a rumbling cart.

"Glaki, stay close to us," Tris scolded. "It you dart ahead of us you'll get run over or lost."

"Okay, auntie Tris," the girl said, nodding agreeably. Glaki slowed enough to be in between Tris and Kethlun and thus protected from the careless Hatarians.

Niko led the group through the streets, striding forward purposefully and glancing at the street signs every once in awhile. The river of people diminished to a trickle as evening approached. Finally, Niko stopped in front of an inn, announcing that they could stop for the night.

Their rooms secured, Tris took Glaki upstairs to put the little girl to sleep. When Glaki was safely settled on Tris's bed and sleeping peacefully, Tris went back to the main room below, leaving Chime and Little Bear to guard the sleeping child.

She found Niko in a deep conversation with another guest so, not wanting to disturb them, she went outside to explore in the small amount of daylight left. Smelling traces of salt in the wind, she headed north and eventually reached the shore of the Pebbled Sea.

'Over there,' Tris thought, looking towards Dupon Island. 'Just across the sea and I'll be back home at Winding Circle. Despite her four year absence, Tris still thought of Winding Circle with a tinge of homesickness. 'A few more days…'

The sun was barely up and the wind was starting to blow cool air from the sea. Tris shivered in the cold as she turned to head back to the inn. The seas would definitely be rough for the next few days if the winds kept up like that.

~*~

Tris did not sleep much that night and instead stayed up studying an interesting book on scrying that she had found. Her long nose was mere centimeters from the book she was so absorbed in it that it took Glaki three tries to get her attention. "Niko wants you to come down to eat," the girl informed her, looking at her solemnly with her dark eyes.

"Alright," Tris replied, snapping the book shut. "I'll be down in a bit."

Glaki left and Tris soon followed suit. After their breakfast, they mounted the horses from the inn and rode north towards Maryn Port where they would board a ship to Emelan.

The day was chilly with cold, biting gusts of wind. There were few people on the streets, and the few that were in the streets were rushing to finish their business as the weather almost certainly promised a storm.

Tris sniffed the wind and savored the fresh, spring air preceding a thunderstorm. Glancing at her student, Tris smiled inwardly as she noted his badly-hidden desire to touch lightning again in a storm. Glaki had somehow picked up an enthusiasm for thunderstorms as well and many times, Tris had stayed up nursing a little girl with a fever from running through the rain and wind.

Glancing up, Tris saw dark clouds rolling in overhead. She watched the clouds drift over Nimur and forgot about the horse; it had been specially trained to follow the lead horse currently carrying Niko. The gray clouds roiled and shifted, like a pot of boiling water. Glaki, riding in front of Tris, turned and saw her foster mother frown suddenly. The child looked up as well, but saw nothing other than the seething clouds. "What's wrong, Auntie Tris?" the child inquired.

"The clouds, there's magic…" Tris seemed to be thinking out loud rather than answering Glaki's question. Tris's head snapped down, and she grabbed the reins abruptly. "I need to talk to Niko for a second," she explained. Tris guided the horse around Keth's and caught up with Niko. "Niko…do the clouds seem…strange to you?"

Niko glanced up at the clouds. "They look fine to me. Why?"

"Oh, nevermind, it was probably just my imagination. I could have sworn…But if you don't see it it's definitely not there."

Niko looked at her sharply. "See what?"

"Well," Tris hesitated, "I thought I saw a flicker of magic. The clouds were rolling and I thought I saw a little bit of magic, but only for a second."

Niko frowned. He examined the clouds again, but still saw nothing. "Let's hurry to Maryn Port first," he said. "We can talk about the clouds there."

He sped his horse up a bit and Tris and Keth's obligingly followed the leader.

~*~

At Maryn Port:

Tris watched fat raindrops splatter and slide down the window. 'Stuck again. Why is everything trying to slow me down going home?' She turned from the window and surveyed the main room. Many people were gathered in the visitors room of the trading house, most grouped around the fire and drying off. She, Niko, Keth, and Glaki had been lucky arriving just moments before the skies started dumping water over the port. 'Dumping' was an appropriated term as the rain fell so heavily that it was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of oneself. Through her magic, Tris could feel the speed of the rain and knew that it fell hard enough to bruise. Scanning the motley group of people, Tris could see that some already had bruises showing.

"It's crazy," one man was telling his neighbor. "the rain's like hail but it falls so hard that it hits worse than hail. This is probably the worse storm Maryn's seen for awhile."

"Yeah," the woman he was talking to replied. "The wind almost lifted me off the ground. It was like hurricane winds or something."

"Attention!" the owner of the trading house shouted. "The storm's probably going to last the whole night so you all better find places to set up places to sleep. We just had some blankets and pillows from down south, but there's not enough so you have to share." He eyed the people already edging towards the pile of bedding. "If you can't share and start fighting, I'm taking them away. I won't have you ruin the shipment." He looked around. It looks like a set of bedding for every three people. Make groups of three and we'll see how many groups there are.

Tris grabbed Glaki's hand. "We'll share," she explained to Niko and Keth. You two can have the two sets that we brought with us." She led Glaki up to the front where blankets and pillows were being taken by the groups. The man who had spoken kept a sharp eye on everyone. She grabbed a pillow and blanket without looking and hurried out of the way. Despite the man's words, people were still pushing to try to get the big heavy blankets and plump pillows.

Looking around, she spotted Niko and Keth setting up in a corner away from the fire, where people were now fighting over sleeping space.

"It's probably safer here," Keth said. Tris nodded and set up her and Glaki's bed. Luckily, she had grabbed an adequately warm, but large blanket, which would make the sharing easier. Likewise, she had grabbed a long flat pillow that would also work well for two people. People in the warehouse were already fighting over the blankets and pillows they were to share.

"This storm's got everyone in a bad mood," Keth remarked.

Niko was silent. Glancing at him, Tris saw that he was in his "brooding mood" as she had so aptly named it. His dark eyes were unreadable and his eyes were unfocused. He was stroking his beard slightly and paused every once in awhile to glance around without actually looking at anything. Tris, deciding not to interrupt his train of thought, sat across from Keth and drew Glaki into her lap, leaving Niko alone behind Keth. The three were in the middle of an animated discussion about a performing troop they had seen on the way when Niko's head suddenly snapped up.

"What is it Niko?" Tris inquired. He looked troubled and uneasy. Niko did not answer and instead walked over to the window where the water poured down, obscuring sight. "Niko?" Tris said again, walking over and tapping his shoulder. Niko jumped slightly and turned to see her, Glaki, and Keth staring at him.

"What is it uncle Niko?" Glaki asked.

Niko seemed to think before answering the child's question. "This storm is very…odd. None of the weather mages have reported anything about a storm in the west." 

"The west?" Keth asked.

"This storm is moving in from the east. It's a major storm so someone ought to have found some sign of it. It is also very unusual for this time of the year…"

"Magic?" Tris questioned.

"Maybe. But the thing is none of the rain shows any signs of magic tampering. It looks like a natural occurrence, but I can't help but feel uneasy." Seeing Glaki's worried face, he hastily assured her, "Oh, I'm sure it's just my imagination. After all I am an old man." Glaki looked slightly reassured and when Keth engaged her in a game with Chime's glass flames, she seemed to completely forget about it. Tris watched them play for awhile but kept casting worried glances at Niko every once in awhile. Seeing her gaze after a few minutes, Niko beckoned her over.

"This storm is very troubling," he informed her. It's more of an instinct rather than a suspicion from evidence. Tris reached out with her magic to the storm.

Probing the clouds, she found that they were normal but they did feel a little strange. Furrowing her brow, Tris descended even deeper into her magic, assimilating herself with the clouds. Examining herself, she could tell that something was definitely wrong. She explored the expanse of clouds and followed the trails of rain across the sea to the west and found herself looking at a fleet of pirate ships. A red robed man stood in the crow's nest and Tris could see him feeding small streams of magic up into the rapidly condensing thundercloud overhead. He seemed to sense her because as she drew closer, his head whipped around to stare in her direction. Tris quickly fled back to her body.

Opening her eyes, she saw Niko looking at her intently. "Pirates," she whispered. "Pirates are attacking-" she thought back to her geography lessons, "Sotat. A man is making the rain clouds. I don't know how but his magic is turning into rain clouds."

"What else did you see?" Niko inquired.

"There was a fleet of ships. The man in the red robe was in the crow's nest making the rain and the rest were rowing to the shore. I think he saw me," she added gingerly at the end.

"He saw you?" Niko demanded sharply.

"Well, he seemed to at least feel me. He turned to look in my direction but I don't think he could have seen me because I was hiding in a patch of magic, so my magical body should have been indistinguishable from the magic cloud."

"Yes… he might have sensed your magical body though. Everyone's magic feel different, and if he made the magic cloud you hid in, he would have felt your different magic."

"And they were attacking Sotat you said?"

"Yeah, at least according to what I remember from a map. The place was on the coast near Nidra Island, a little below Hatar." Niko thought for a second.

"There are two cities there. But if it's a fleet I'll go with Green Rock; it has a harbor. Fallor's coast is rocky and impossible to land on."

"What do we do Niko?"

"We could never make it to Sotat in time to help. The storm is getting worse and I fear that the mage is destroying the natural balance in this whole area. He could cause a great deal of natural disasters and affect many countries."

"So what can we do to stop him?"

"I'm afraid there's not much we can do to stop him. You and Kethlun could disperse the clouds but I'm afraid there's no way to stop him. Someone in Sotat must attack his physical body to stop him."

Tris tugged a braid in frustration. "So all we can do is shoo away some clouds which he'll immediately replace?" she demanded. Keth and Glaki looked up from their game, startled by her outburst. She hastily smiled and shook her head to reassure Glaki.

"Put Glaki to bed first Tris," Niko said. "We'll talk after she's asleep." Tris nodded and went to break up the game. She settled Glaki in their bedroll and luckily the little seemed tired out and quickly fell asleep. When she went to Niko, Keth was with him as he had seen that there was something wrong.

Niko had already briefed him on the situation so Tris only had to tell him what to do. "You take the clouds at the edges of the storm and drag them away. I taught you how to leash them in Mulin, remember? I'll try to push out the heavier clouds for you to pull away. I'll see if I can slow the mage or something too."

"We've got a door from the cellar you can get out through," the owner of the warehouse said, coming up to them. Leading Tris and Keth downstairs, he showed them the small door in the wall.

"What are they doing here?" Tris demanded, gesturing to the group of men and women standing to the side of the door.

"They're going to help shut the doors. Let me tell you now that once the door is closed, you aren't coming beack in 'til the storm's over. We'll have a hard enough time trying to close it now when it's not even the full power of the storm."

Tris thought about telling him that she could hold off the winds to open and close doors herself and that even a bolted door was not an inconvenience to the foster sister of a former thief but thought better of it and held her tongue. "Fine," she said waspishly, annoyed that he seemed to think they would come crawling back in defeat. She grasped the doorknob and yanked the door open.

She was hit by a blast of fast moving wind and pellets of ice and water assaulted her. In no mood to play nice, she lifted her hand and threw the oncoming sleet back. She grabbed Keth's wrist and dragged him out, leaving the warehouse owner's crew to shut the door after moving her shield. She and Keth moved to a cluster of boulders and wedged in a small hollow under the rocks. "Ready?" she asked. He nodded in affirmation and she released her magic. She saw Keth's blaze move toward the fringes of the storm and she headed east to where the red robed mage was just begging for his just punishment.

~*~

Keth quickly shot out lines of magic and attached them around the centers of the clouds. He turned and dragged the group of clouds west. He had heard of droughts in the west and planned to dissolve the clouds in the hot climate and maybe relieve some of their problems. He towed them to the coast of Anderran and released them. They still retained the momentum of their journey and continued inland. He turned and went back for another group.

~*~

Tris quickly reached the fleet of ships and flew into the large cloud forming above the fleet. She spread her hands and streams of wind shot out from each finger, blowing the thunder clouds outward, away from the main group of clouds. The mage had sensed her intervention and his eyes were darting around, trying to locate the troublemaker. Tris was moving around, pushing all of the clouds away from the man. He had stopped forming new clouds and was focusing on getting rid of Tris. 'If I can distract him long enough, someone ought to be able to attack him.'

Tris flitted around the mage, pausing in places and speeding up when he located her presence. She seemed to be annoying the man a great deal as red rage rose in his face and his eyes bulged out. 'Maybe he'll die of a heart attack or high blood pressure,' Tris thought with a tinge of morbid humor. The mage started shooting bolts of magic at her, missing by a lot. Tris could move faster than the eye could see and by the time a bolt of magic reached her previous position, she could have lapped the area 3 times.

As the mage unsuccessfully tried to get rid of Tris, Keth was clearing the skies. The clouds were not as dark or thick and rain no longer pelted the land below. The storm seemed more like a spring shower. Tris was dodging the mages attacks with ease when she felt Keth grab the wrist of her physical body. '_You better get back quick,_' he said, his worried voice resounding in her ears. '_We've got _big_ trouble_.' Regretfully, Tris turned and flew back to her body.

"What is it?" she demanded, opening her eyes. He responded quietly.

~*~

"Niko!" Tris cried, pelting up the cellar stairs into the main room. The warehouse owner turned to stare at her. 

"How did you get in," he asked.

"Honestly, if you just stuck a stick in that lock and wiggled it, you'd probably have a 50% chance of opening it." Tris snapped. "Now, where's Niko?"

"I'm right here Tris," Niko said coming to her right. "There was no need to make so much noise," he reprimanded mildly.

Tris ignored his reproof. She had bigger things to worry about. "I need to talk to you. _Privately_," she added, seeing the owner about to follow them.

She led him into the cellar where Keth was waiting for them. "We've got a problem," she stated crisply, turning to face Niko. She gestured at Keth to relate what he had seen.

"I was clearing the clouds like Tris told me to and I was coming back from Anderran when I saw the waves. There was a chain of waves and they got bigger with each successive wave. I watched it for awhile and the waves kept getting bigger. From what I know of tides, it will eventually form a tsunami and it's definitely headed here. I don't know how big it'll be but it's probably gonna be big enough to swamp most of northern Hatar, maybe even to Marli."

"That's impossible," Niko said. "There's no way a wave can get that big."

"But you said that this magic would affect the balance of nature," Tris reminded him. "Isn't it feasible that between the mage and us we could have created a tsunami."

Niko thought for a moment, then sighed. "I suppose that could have happened. But we need to find a way to deal with the tsunami. Hatar has just recovered from the smallpox epidemic and another large disaster could mean anarchy here for the next few decades."

"But how can we stop it, or even divert it. And if we deflected it, wouldn't it just cause problems for someone else?"

Niko was silent. "I have absolutely no idea how to handle this." he admitted. Lightsbridge never prepared any of us for this and I don't think anyone else has ever had this problem."

"Maybe we can take power from it and put it somewhere," Tris ventured gingerly. Like I did with the tides and the rocks."

"Absolutely not!" Niko shouted. "You were lucky to live through your first attempt and I don't want to know if you'll survive a second time. You could even make it worse, like with the earthquake in Ragat."

"Well what _can_ we do?" Tris demanded crossly.

"I'm sorry Tris, but I don't think there's anything we can do." Niko said quietly. "The wave will probably hit in about an hour. I need to alert the mages in Hatar and see if we can't move the people and try to prepare people for it." He turned and went up the stairs, followed by Keth.

~*~

Luckily for Niko, a transportation convention was being held not too far from Marli and the mages transported people from the north lower south. Tris helped people pack up and move to the transportation areas.

'I can't believe this,' she fumed, watching another family leave their house and most of their belongings to the mercy of the tsunami and flood. A girl who couldn't be more than five years old wept as she bid farewell to her garden and house. 'They'll lose everything and who knows where they'll live next.'

She smiled sadly at the family, "Please follow me," she said quietly. They trailed after her without protest; they had already lost everything, there was no point in arguing with the bearer of the news. She left them I the square to seek out Niko.

"We can't even do anything to help them," she cried in frustration when she met up with him.

"I know Tris. Mages can't solve everything, no matter how much power we have. It's just a natural law," he consoled her. He patted her shoulder before leaving to talk to the mage hailing him.

'Natural law…,' Tris thought for a second. Her face slowly spread into a small smirk. "Seeing as how we've been breaking laws of magic left and right, I don't see what the trouble is with trying to break another one." she muttered to herself in a satisfied tone.

Tris managed to coerce a transportation novice into taking her back north to Maryn. He didn't seem particularly bright as he left when Tris told him she would just walk back so his services were no longer needed. She climbed a rocky path to stand looking at the sea from a cliff. 'Just need to find something to anchor myself down,' Tris thought.

"Knew you'd be coming." Tris whirled alarmed, but calmed down when she saw Keth with a grin that just about split his face in half. He offered her one rope which he had tied through a hole in a boulder and another which he had anchored to a large tree. Tris accepted both and tied them around her waist.

"How long have you been you waiting," she asked.

"Only an hour or two. I came early to make the hole. I knew you'd show up as soon as you made up your mind to disobey Niko."

"You knew I wouldn't listen to him?" Tris asked, half amused and half annoyed that he could predict her actions.

"I _did_ hear about your days at Winding Circle, including a battle against a pirate fleet."

Tris grinned crookedly. "Since we're both here, why don't we get to work. I can probably absorb some power into my braids, though you'll have to help me back to Niko. I'm afraid you can't help me with that," she said, gesturing at his bald crown. "I really don't know what you can do," she added. You don't really have magic with the sea."

"Perhaps I could reroute the power of the tides like you did," he ventured.

"No way," Tris said. "Too dangerous."

"What you're doing is dangerous too," he argued.

"Yeah but at least I know I'll live through it. I think. But you're my student and I really do not feel like explaining to everyone how I let you die playing with nature."

"Well I need to do something!" he shouted. "I want to be able to help people somehow, even if just by putting my body in the path of the flood to knock back even a little bit."

Tris sighed. She did understand where he stood though. "Ummm…" she thought for a moment. What could Keth do to help? "I really don't know of anything you can do. The only thing I can think of is lending me your magic. But it's really dangerous because if anything happens to me, it'll happen to you too; In other words: I die, you die."

"Is there nothing else I can do. Anything to slow the wave or something." He thought for a second. "Maybe I can strike it with lightning and break of parts of it."

"Not a good idea," Tris informed him. "The lightning would just go through the wave and you could make it worse if you charged the tsunami with electricity."

"So you're just going to absorb the waves?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow. "I really don't think you can hold that much."

"I plan on absorbing some and making some new waves to run into the tsunami and knock some of the water back. I think I'll try to make some winds too."

"But it's gonna be huge. You can't stop it," Keth argued.

"I know, but I plan on making it just a bit smaller."

"You don't understand. It gets bigger every second. For every part you take away, it increases by about five times of what you took!"

"Look Keth, I'm going to try to help these people no matter what. I know I'm risking my life but I think it's worth it for all of those people." Seeing the determined glint in her eyes, Keth decided to concede the debate.

"Fine, what are you going to do?"

"First, I'll link out powers so that I can use both of our stores of magic. I'll undo my braids and go in the water. The braids will absorb some of the powers from the waves and I'll use that power too. I'm going to make winds to push it back and waves that should knock some of the water out of the path of the wave, preventing it from getting bigger." She paused to think. "If worse come to worse and the tsunami hits me, I'll absorb as much into my braids as possible. I might die from so much power and I doubt I'll be able to take all of the power, but I'll shrink it significantly."

"You'll die from having so much magic running through your body or so much in your body?"

"Both. My body will be swamped with the power of the tides and I can't use it all that fast. My body will be strained to its limits and I'll die." She said this so calmly and so serenely that it seemed like she was merely talking about an everyday event and not her possible death."

"Couldn't I help you?" Seeing her inquiring look, he elaborated. "If our magic is combined and we share it, can't I use some magic too?"

"It should work both ways," Tris said slowly, "but you need to use it. You can't store it because the power of nature cannot and should not be stored in anything. I only borrow the power to put in my braids. I am not keeping to power because otherwise I would most likely die."

"I can use the magic," Keth said. "Umm…" he looked around to try to find a way to use the magic. "I can make lightning. That uses a lot of magic."

"Uh-huh. And pray tell, where would this lightning go?" Tris asked tartly.

Keth looked for some source of inspiration. "Couldn't I generate the lightning in my body and send it up to the clouds."

Tris pondered his idea. "That might work but you could make it worse and have lightning hit everything."

"What if I just send it into the sky, just into clear space. Would that work?"

"Probably, I don't think it would hit anything and it would just break up in the atmosphere. But you had better make sure it doesn't get even _near_ a single cloud."

"Fine, I can do that."

"You do that only if I definitely have to take the power of the tsunami. I need you to take the power of the tsunami and not our combined powers. I need every drop of magic I can get. While I'm battling the wave, you try to make a very clear space above us to shoot the lightning. Just tow them away because that uses less magic."

"Alright then. I guess you should get started." Keth grabbed he ropes and followed her to the edge of the cliff. He lowered her into the water and retied the ropes to anchor her so that she wouldn't get swept away. "Good luck," he called before rising in his magical body to move some rain clouds.

~*~

"Cap'n Chandler, we can't make it! We're being pulled back!" a sailor screamed. They were trying to get to Summersea Harbor but the current, instead of going north towards the harbor, was pulling them south, back into the main body of the sea.

"Damn," Derrick cursed. "It means there's a tsunami forming to the south. It's what's sucking all of the water back. I've only heard of this happening and I've never heard of anyone surviving getting pulled into a tsunami."

"Oh gods," one crewman yelled. "We're going to die!" At his outburst, many crewmembers started screaming and wailing. The ship was in an uproar in mere seconds.

"Quiet!" Derrick shouted over the noise. "We're not dead yet and if we prepare we may just survive this. First, everyone put on your air suit and grab your air globe!" The men obediently put on their air suits and grabbed a bubble-like apparatus which housed compressed air. If they were pitched into the sea, they would jam the globe in their mouth and they would last for about an hour on the air inside. "Find a place to winch yourself to the ship. If the ship is destroyed, unhook the line and grab a plank. If your air suit leaks or pops, use the plank and the globe. Everyone keep your cool and try to stay alive," he said grimly.

~*~

Tris shivered as Keth lowered her into the freezing water. She found a crevice and wedged herself in. Undoing her braids, she let the power of the tides flow into her well of magic. A few seconds later, Keth's magic trickled in and mixed into her own power. Tris had an ample amount of magic, but not enough for what she planned to do. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and magic from the tides flowed through her hair into the well of magic. Focusing, she sent her magical body out. She coasted over the water until she found the soon-to-be-tsunami about two miles north. Looking at the water, she estimated about two minutes before the tsunami formed and another minute before it reached her physical body.

'Time to get to work,' Tris thought grimly. She used magic to push water away from the wave. It traveled in the direction her magic urged for about ten seconds before it was pulled back in by the undercurrent of the forming tsunami. 'Shoot!' she thought. "I need a way to keep the water from coming back in." Tris paused while she went through possible plans, discarding most for one reason or another. Tris narrowed her options to two. "Make magic walls or make a magic current. Hmm…" She finally decided to make an undercurrent as it would move the water away from the tsunami and pull water from the tsunami itself, although it would expend more magic.

Magic rolled out of her body in waves, pulling water away the strip between the tsunami and Hatar. Near the coast of Hatar she needed little force, but the closer to the tsunami, the more she had to struggle to establish and stabilize her undercurrent. Once she had formed the undercurrents, she set them to draw from her magic automatically. Looking at her magic, Tris drew in more power from the tides to refill the greatly depleted level. 'I'm gonna pay for this,' Tris thought, anticipating her weeks, maybe even months in bed. 'Unless I die of course,' she thought offhandedly. She felt Keth's magical body somewhere to the west of her and examined the clouds above. The clouds were thin with a few empty patches. 'We might actually pull this off,' she thought in surprise.

Tris turned her attention back to her task and focused on the waves. She was halfway through her allotted time of three minutes. The waves were now about two to three feet high, and growing. However, they did not grow extremely quickly as Tris' undercurrent was disrupting its formation. Tris flung bursts of magic at the base of the waves, experimenting what to do. The wave collapsed and the water gushed forth and stirred the water. 'Better not try that again, unless I want a flood that goes even farther inland.' She hit the edges of the waves with magic and was delighted to see a whole side collapse backwards when a gust of wind pushed it back. 'So,' she reasoned, 'I need to hit the weakened end with a quick gust of wind and it falls back because there is nothing to support it.

Tris waited for the tsunami wave to form. She blasted a hole at the base but the water was moving too quickly and collapsed, pulling more water from the sea to fuel its power. 'Damn!' Tris cursed. 'I forgot that there was a lot more water in the tsunami. She flew to the middle of the tsunami and tried the trick again. 'Yes!' she thought, elated. 'It worked!' She collapsed parts of the tsunami, though the wave only shrunk the slightest bit.

She turned to look behind herself and saw that the wave was less than a minute from the coast of Hatar. Already, it towered high in the sky, taller than any building Tris had ever seen. She could feel the tsunami pulling at her underwater currents, and the currents closest to the tsunami were destroyed, her power not strong enough to resist the wave's force.

Tris was losing magic rapidly through the currents and her own attack on the tsunami. Her magic and energy reserves were extremely low, and she still had to take the brunt of the attack. Tris looked up and found that Keth had cleared the sky for a large radius while she had battled the tsunami. The tsunami was less than half a minute from the coast and it had sped up somehow.

Examining the situation, she realized that she had vastly underestimated the power of nature. Tris formed a new plan. She could not completely stop the wave, but she could reduce its destructive power. It was worth the sacrifice if she could prevent families from being destroyed. She had seen too many broken families and knew all too well the pain inflicted on the people. She renewed her attack on the tsunami. She knew the consequences of the plan and knew what would happen. She had nothing left to fear.

When the tsunami was mere yards from her physical body, Tris released her magics and flew to her body to prepare for the onslaught. She felt strong and revitalized, and her senses seemed to have heightened and she swore she could feel everything in her body, from the flow of blood through her veins to the beat of her heart. She closed her eyes and opened her channel to Keth. The tsunami hit her body.

Tris drew as much of the power into her body as she could. Her arms were open and welcoming, inviting the strength of the tsunami into her body. Dimly, she felt herself being lifted from the crevice and she felt the tension of the rope before it snapped. But she barely paid attention to her physical sensations, for her body was crackling with power. And being destroyed. The power of nature was too much and she could feel it tearing her apart as it surged through her body. She registered Keth's presence above her and heard his hoarse scream as power flowed from her into him.

She felt him clumsily gather the power into a concentrated ball to become his bolt of lightning. 'Not enough,' Tris thought to herself. Keth would not be able to discharge even half of the tsunami's power. And her deteriorating body was too weak and too small to do anything. But she couldn't let it destroy the lives of people. She would not allow it to wreak havoc and pain upon the people of Hatar.

When she came to her conclusion, she felt something in her body give, and she knew that she had done something to her body, to her magic. She pulled as much of the tsunami's power into herself before her mind faded into darkness.

****

~*~

"Tris, oh gods, Tris!!!" Niko rushed up the rocky outcropping. Glaki scrambled to keep up with Niko. The seers and searchers who had come with Niko hung back, bowing their heads respectfully to the mage who had given her life to save them.

"Auntie Tris!!" Glaki added her cries to Keth's. She didn't know what was wrong with her foster mother, but it reminded her too much the circumstances in which two other women she had called mother had left her. "Auntie Tris, wake up!" Glaki shrieked.

Niko merely stared down sadly at the still form of his former student. Her skin was deathly pale and her clothes were wet and tattered. Clumps of seaweed clung to her body and hair, and Niko could see a dried trickle of blood from her temple. She was covered in scratches and the salt on her skin and in her hair reflected the rays of the dying sun. Her hair was a mess, a swath of red hair and green seaweed with sparkling white strands from the salt. He couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that she was dead or what she had accomplished through her death.

Keth knelt beside his teacher, tears running down his face. Glaki was holding Tris' hand and shaking it vigorously. "Auntie Tris, please wake up!" Glaki cried hysterically. Chime swooped down to land at Tris's side. She nuzzled Tris while a whining Little Bear licked Tris's face. Niko crumpled to his knees, still silent and dry eyed from shock. Keth had grabbed Glaki and was rocking the girl in his arms, as much to comfort her as himself. Niko reached out a trembling finger and tentatively lay his hand on the weather witch's forehead. He brushed salt from her face as his tears finally emerged. Little Bear and Chime had backed away and were regarding Tris's body in confusion and apprehension.

The small group remained undisturbed until the sun was no longer visible on the horizon. The head of the seers came forward and laid a comforting hand on Niko's shoulder. Niko rose, limbs heavy, and turned away from the sight of his student's body. Keth rose with Glaki and turned with Niko to regard those who had come with them. Niko cleared his throat.

"She-," his voice cracked, "-she didn't make it. She saved us but…" the rest of his words faded.

"I'm sorry for your loss," one of the searchers said sympathetically. He continued quietly, "We should be going back soon, and bring…" Keth nodded sadly. Several men started up the slope to approach Tris's body when Little Bear suddenly jumped at them, snarling.

"Little Bear, what in the-" Niko began indignantly. Keth started toward the girl's body as well but Little Bear reacted the same way. Niko's approach elicited the same reaction.

"What's going on?" Keth asked Niko, puzzled. Chime suddenly descended from the sky and alighted on Tris's chest. Chime's small body curled into a ball and she stuck her glass head up to peer upon Tris's face. Unlike usual, her eyes were glowing with a warm golden light, her eyes whirling orange, brown, and yellow. Her body seemed to glow in the dark of the early evening.

"What's happening?" one of the men demanded. Niko and Keth could only shake their heads in bewilderment. Chime raised her head to the sky and opened her jaw. A high pitched keening sound caused all present to cry out in pain and cover their ears. Chime's wail continued, her cry soaring and dropping.

A bolt of light shot from the sky and shone on Tris. In Niko's vision, the magic pillar of light glowed with a bright electric blue, with strands of white dispersed throughout. Honey yellow, fiery red, and bright green twisted about the sky blue pillar. The light disappeared and darkness descended once again.

"Tris?" Keth called tentatively. No answer. He approached the body with Niko, Glaki trailing behind them. Chime flew out of the darkness to land on Little Bear, who was now laying docilely on the ground. The men who had come with Glaki and Niko stayed where they were, wary of what would happen next. "Tris?" Keth called again, uncertainly. Niko reached Tris first and looked down at her, hoping that the light had done what he hoped it would. He knelt and tapped Tris on the shoulder. Glaki had reached Tris too and she reached out for her aunt's hand. 

"It's warm!" Glaki exclaimed. Keth gave a sob of relief and Niko leaned back and let out the breath he had been holding. Wild barking met their ears as a flash of ivory streaked towards them. Little Bear came to halt barely inches from the group, Chime squawking in protest as she clung to his back. Little Bear bowed his head and enthusiastically began to lick Tris's face. The girl did not respond to his ministrations and the group of three almost gave up hope. Then, Glaki felt Tris's hand twitch in hers and a small moan escaped from the weather witch.

"Tris!!" Keth shouted. He shook her shoulder. Tris stirred and opened her eyes, looking around blearily. Suddenly, her gaze sharpened and her expression returned from bewilderment to her usual observant, slightly wary look.

"What happened?" she demanded. She looked down. "And why are my clothes such a mess?!" the merchant girl shrieked. An arm of seaweed flopped into her face, dislodged when she had shaken her head slightly. She scowled at the offending plant as Glaki reached to take the other strands from Tris's hair.

"Uh-oh,' Glaki intoned solemnly, peeling up a corner of the plant.

"What is it," Tris asked slightly frantically, wondering what could be worse than almost drowning. Glaki lifted the strand of green completely from Tris's head, smiling slightly. Niko looked at her head with a mild curiosity while Keth looked at Tris with horror coupled with a badly suppressed desire to burst out laughing. "What?" Tris snapped. She had just escaped death and her companions were now laughing at her!

Glaki handed Tris the mirror she had found in a previous city. Scowling, Tris lifted the mirror, her pale face illuminated by the unsteady light Glaki had learned to produce. Tris's eyes widened in shock. She reached a hand back and pulled forward a strand of hair. White. "What in the gods' name happened?!" she half shrieked. She lifted the mirror to get a better view of her shock of white hair.

Niko rubbed his chin. "My guess is the magic you tried to absorb drained your body. Magic is in everything, including hair."

"Is it going to stay like that?" Glaki asked.

"No idea," Niko answered. "I've never actually heard of this before. There are stories that mages who use all of their magic fade. But I've only hear of the person themselves disappearing."

"Oh great," Tris ranted. First I'm a redhead. Now it's all white."

"Not all of it," Keth interjected. "The part at the back of your head is still red." Glaki walked behind Tris and viewed the hair critically.

"It's just the top in the front," she agreed. However, her comment did little to console incensed mage.

"I can't believe this! As if red wasn't bad enough, now it's white?!"

"Only on the top." Glaki's contribution was completely ignored in the face of the ongoing tirade.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Of course I didn't kill Tris off!! She's my favorite. Anyways, hope this long chapter makes up for not updating. You'll find out more about what happened to Tris in four more chapters. I'm a slow writer and my mom doesn't want me on the computer more than an hour so you'll probably have to wait a year ^-^; Sorry. No idea how long until next update. I'll try to be faster though.

****

*Star Lily*


	9. Pirate's Isthmus

Disclaimer: CoM and CoMo plot and characters belong to Tamora Pierce

Wah, very sorry, very sorry. I couldn't update because my computer had an evil virus and kept shutting down or restarting every 5 minutes. Thanks to my cousin for fixing my precious computer. Anyway, very sorry and I'll try to update all my stories ASAP!

"Daja, Daja!" Frostpine burst through the front door, eyes scanning the room for his student. "Ayami!" He ran to his sister and grabbed her shoulders. "Where's Daja?"

"Calm down, Frostpine," she protested. "What's wrong."

"That storm, I can't believe I didn't realize it before. It's magic, and probably pirates. Oh Gods, why?"

"Magic? You mean like…" Ayami trailed off. Frostpine's nod confirmed her suspicion. "Oh no… Daja, she went to the stables, I think that sailor we saved last nights there."

Muttering curses, Frostpine brushed by Ayami and hurried to the kitchen to find the line to the stables. 'Gods,' he thought, lamenting the situation. 'I just hope that sailor isn't the scout.'

'Move Daja, c'mon.' Vainly, Daja tried to encourage her body to move, to turn and get help. Sallar advanced slowly, a scowl across his face. He reached to his side and drew a dagger. His slow steps sped up as he neared and turned into a run, dagger raised to plunge into Daja.

As his elation grew, his concentration wavered, and Daja felt his spell weaken. She dodged to side just in time, the blade cutting deeply into her arm. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed a rake, spinning to block Sallar's arm.

"Daja!" Frostpine charged into the stable, Ayami and a few others at his heels. In seconds, Sallar was disarmed and surrounded.

"Are you okay?" Ayami questioned, scanning Daja's body for more wounds.

"I'm fine, he only got my arm." Daja winced as Ayami gently touched the wound.

"Only bandages, I think," Ayami said, examining the cut with critical eyes. "I don't think its big enough for stitches, thank the Gods."

A woman drew Daja from Ayami, explaining that she had some knowledge of healing. "Only enough to repair the muscle and slow the bleeding," she said apologetically. "I'm afraid I never had time to really learn to use my magic."

"That's fine," Daja assured her. Her attention was drawn to Sallar, who two men were tying up with rope.

"Daja, what happened?" Frostpine asked.

"I came to talk to him, because I felt…uneasy, I suppose. When I got here he was speaking to someone in that mirror," she said, gesturing to the shattered mirror on the floor.

"Do you know who he was talking to or what they were talking about?" A woman, who Daja assumed to be a local law official, came up behind Ayami.

"I don't remember. I couldn't hear very well and…" Daja paused, trying to organize her jumbled thoughts. She was silent for a moment as she thought, and the official seemed disheartened.

"Then I suppose it's safe to assume we are going to be attacked, by pirates or bandits or the like," the woman reflected.

Daja was still struggling, sure that something important had been mentioned. "Pauha -- and Enahar!" she suddenly exclaimed. "That was it. He," she pointed at Sallar, "is their brother. They're the ones who attacked Winding Circle!" Sallar scowled at her and pursed his lips, obviously proclaiming his silence.

"Pirates then," Ayami remarked, looking thoughtful. "And this storm is most likely…" she trailed off, glancing at her brother.

"Yes, most likely another magic storm," Frostpine confirmed.

"We must prepare," a man said. "And we should probably lock him in the prison and start questioning." The crowd murmured their assent.

"Yes," the innkeeper said, clapping his hands. "We need to organize. Let's go back and tell everyone the situation, so we can plan our defenses and what to do with that parasite." He turned, motioning for the people gathered to follow. The motley group returned to the inn, and the townspeople gathered to hear the news.

"Damn," a man cursed. The people near him inched away slowly, trying to be discreet; their captain was not the most level-headed man in the world. "Sallar has not contacted me as he was supposed to. He better not have messed up the plan." his eyes narrowed, planning the demise of the bumbling spy.

"What do we do now, Captain?" a pirate questioned meekly.

Their leader was quiet for a moment as he considered their options. "Arm up, now! We need to attack as soon as possible, before they can prepare." The pirates scattered to relay his message and prepare for the attack.

At the inn, the people of Green Rock were frantically searching for weapons and tools to use in the pending attack. Sallar had been safely locked in the prison and was being questioned. Daja had retired to rest in her room when Frostpine came to talk to her.

"These people need our help Daja. Are you willing?" he asked.

"Of course," Daja retorted. "I would never turn down a request for help!" Frostpine grinned, pleased by her answer.

"Great, because this attack may be worse, as we don't have other mages to help us like last time."

"We'll be fine," Daja said firmly. "We know about boom powder and their magic. We can stop them."

"You sound very confident," Ayami remarked from the doorway. "These people can take care of invading pirates. They need you to deal with the cannons and magic though."

"We can do it," Daja insisted. She drew herself up from her bed. "We should probably get ready to fight the fleet."

"Ships have been sighted to the north, so people are gathering at the beach. They've cut off the storm, since there's no point." Ayami informed them. They left the inn and made their way to the beach.

"We're ready Captain Noar," a pirate said, saluting.

"Good. Head straight for the coast and fire on any suspicious people or movements. We may have been found out." He was quiet, recalling his conversation with Sallar. "They may also have mages, strong ones. Inform all of our mages to prepare for retaliation."

"S-sir, is this really worth it?" A crew member interrupted timidly. Immediate silence as everyone looked at the poor man in sympathy. For a moment, his head swung back and forth in confusion before he abruptly pitched forward, a red stain spreading across his chest.

"Never question a captain's orders," Noar said calmly. He turned. "Everyone to your stations." He walked away, leaving the man's body on the deck.

"They're coming, and quickly. Headed straight for the beach to the west of the town." The mayor frantically tried to organize the defenses for the city.

"Mayor!" A young boy ran gasping to the man. "Ekirt says they're getting battlefire ready. And their mages." The mayor swore, turning to the crowd of people.

"If I may," Frostpine interrupted, "Daja and myself have experience fighting pirates. Allow us to take care of their mages. Also," he turned to the boy, "did they have anything else, big black balls."

"Yes," he replied, looking slightly mystified. "But Ekirt reckons its catapult stones or cannon balls."

"Very well then, go back to your post." he dismissed the boy. Frostpine turned back to the mayor. "Those balls are dangerous, they blow up, causing a lot of damage. If you see one of them flying towards you, run immediately."

"But we'll be able to take care of most of them," Daja added, see the mayor's already pale face become almost colorless. "Don't worry, we've done it before."

"They're coming!" a lookout shouted. The group turned to see numerous longboats gliding towards the beach, a few splitting off to land on other parts of the coast.

"Let's go." Frostpine's order was unnecessary as Daja had already started moving.

"What do we do?" she asked as they scrambled to the rocky cliff jutting over the water.

"First we find somewhere to keep our bodies safe. Look for a cave or place where people would ignore. We'll put a circle there and attack." Daja nodded, scanning their surroundings as they moved.

The flagship rocked in the water and came dangerously close to keeling over when two ships simultaneously exploded, another following seconds later. Noar scrambled to his feet.

"What was that?!" he roared over the noise.

"Don't know sir. Something happened on the ships and they blew. Don't know if it was gunpowder or black powder." The ship pitched again as another ship blew up.

"Damn!" Noar swore. "What the hell is going on?"

Daja raced back to her body to rest for a bit. She opened her eyes in time to see Frostpine draw a man overboard but his shield. She drew breathes in noisily. She doubted she could blow up many more ships. It was hard, putting Tris's lightning into her fire. Her magic reserves were almost half empty. She closed her eyes and her spirit body raced back to the fleets.

"Captain! The pirates on other ships, they say their having trouble with their arms. It's turned against them."

"Augh-" they turned to see a man lift from the ground, hands clawing at the metal links around his neck.

"Magic," the Captain spat in disgust that hopefully covered his panic. "Damn, alert the mages. What the hell are they doing? They're supposed to stop-" he narrowed his eyes suddenly, and ran into the ship.

'Aha,' Daja mentally rejoiced. She had found the flagship, which had been cleverly magicked with a weak, almost undetectable illusion. She flew towards it eagerly. 'Now to find the boom powder. This'll be the last ship.'

Two men were arguing on deck as Frostpine left the strangled pirate. She felt a pang of guilt. 'No, they're just pirates,' she tried to reason. Even so, she still felt sad for the pirate and for herself, strangely. 'They're pirates, but they're still human.' She took a deep breath and tried to shove those thoughts away.

Daja shook her magic self's head and darted into the ship. She could feel the boom powder in her mind, its essense a tickle in her mind that grew to a steady sensation as she neared the powder.

'Found it.' Daja closed her eyes, trying to find the seed of lightning that shifted within the flames of her own magic. Old sense she hadn't used in years kicked in as her body dove to the side.

'Wha-?' A bead of pain registered and she looked down at her arm. Silvery blood welled from her magical self. She looked up, bewildered. One of the arguing men she had seen on deck stood before her, grinning darkly.

"Too bad, mage, but you attacked the wrong fleet. I can see magic and I can affect it." He raised his hands, which would look empty to a normal observer; however to Daja, a blade of magic glinted, silver blood staining the tip. Noar reached out and silver streamers shot from his hand to bind Daja.

'Gods,' she struggled desperately as he advanced. She concentrated on her body, futilely trying to will her magic self back into her body. 'Help, Frostpine, Gods, somebody!' she screamed in her mind as Noar's blade descended.

The ship suddenly tilted crazily, Noar's sword barely missing Daja's neck. Outside, pirates looked around in confusion as the sea bubbled crazily, gouts of steam rising from its depths. Frostpine reentered his body and looked at Daja anxiously. No, she was still in the fleet, somewhere.

He prayed desperately for Daja's safety as the water began to hiss, clouds of soot and steam flying into the air.

Daja's bindings had loosened when Noar's concentration wavered, and she thrashed strongly. The magic dissipated as she overcame the ropes. Noar rushed at her, trying to gut her before whatever was going to happened. Daja fled back to her body as lava spewed from the sea, immediately engulfing the fleet. Once in her body, she had enough time to open her eyes before she collapsed.

Three days later, the ship to Emelan docked, many of the crewmembers comment on a very large isthmus that they swore hadn't been there before.

"We've always sailed straight between the cliff and that big rock out there, and I've never seen that in the three years I've landed here," he insisted.

The mayor smiled secretively, neither agreeing or disagreeing. "It doesn't matter. Pirate's Isthmus is there. No contesting that."

Daja and Frostpine watched the receding coast, their eyes lingering towards the north.

"Amazing though." Frostpine broke the silence. "You four are very powerful, Daja."

"It's strange though. I don't even know what happened, or how I did it."

"Well, nothing amazing there, where you four are concerned. Doubtlessly the minute we unravel this mystery four more will pop up." He sighed in mock frustration. "I'll be going to my closet of a cabin before we hit the big waves," he said, patting her shoulder reassuringly before going down.

"Incredible," he muttered. "Calling lava to help her while not even in her body. And a huge isthmus…incredible."

Sorry it's so short, but I need to try to update all of my fics. Couldn't figure out how to end this either. Oh well, look like Daja actually had one less chapter than the others, so sorry all Daja fans. Next is Briar's last (I think) chapter. I'll try to get it out soon.

Star Lily


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